Then Alice noticed dark clouds and what could be rain to the West, where we would be heading. We gibed and headed West on close haul under full sail. For a while it was fine then the wind picked up another 5-7 kts and some challenging gusts just in case we were getting bored.
Put in a reef. That was when the fun started. The previous owner told me he never reefed the main, just dropped it and sailed off the genoa. I am not a fan of that arrangement. It feels unbalanced and too rolly. The problem was that the main reefed weird. I have never needed to reef if before. It has one deep reef that would reduce the sail area by at least a third. Ample!
The problem was that the boom dropped to eye level and was angled downwards. Not good. We decided to drop the main completely and just sail off the jib.
Next problem. As we focused on the main, the wind had picked up a bunch and the jib had flogged a sheet out of its block and it had blown round to the other side and twisted around the other sheet, i.e. no way we could sail off the jib.
Cranked up the outboard, which has been on best behavior since I gave it a good talking to. We motored into darkening skies, a choppy bay, a significantly more exciting wind than we had counted on and a bit of rain. It was basically a light squall. We donned foulies and life-jackets to be on the safe side.
After a while, we figured the jib could take it and I ahd sorted out the sheets so we let the big flappy thing out.
Next problem. The sheet caught under the winch handle which was not locked in and flipped it into the bay. Bugger!
I only had one winch handle. Double bugger. This was basic stupidity and a lesson learned here. we sailed off the genoa poorly sheeted in, so not pointing that well but enough to head home. By the time we reached RYC the conditions had calmed down.
Lessons learned:
– 1 winch handle!!! What was I thinking? I will buy two this week
– Practice reefing in calm conditions. It was just dumb to work out how to reef the boat in these conditions
– Reef earlier. Alice pointed out the weather issue but I was too cocky
– Messing About had no problem with the conditions. She sailed beautifully
– Neither of us panicked. We just got on with it. Confidence is returning
I’m sort of old school about winch handles.
I was taught there are only two places for a winch handle – in your hand or stowed. I think this goes back to the days before locking winch handles and my know-it-all racing buddy makes a mockery of my insistence on this.
Sorry about your misfortune, but now I’ve got an actual real life ‘oh, yeah?’ story for Mr. know-it-all.
I’ve got rather paranoid about loosing winch handles so not lost one yet.
But lots of hats and one bucket have all gone as gifts for Neptune.
I tried to reef on the water for the first time with two completely inexperienced crew in a thunderstorm, and wound up just taking the main down and reaching back and forth under the jib until we got a tow in (no motor, and well downwind of home). My friends who were with me have not been on the boat since.
In terms of the decision whether to keep sailing all-out or to reef, I just read an interesting article about recent research that shows sharp differences between the way men’s and women’s brains process information about risk, probably attributable to genetics and hormones. In the face of risk, men’s brains flood with endorphins, giving them a sense of euphoria, while women’s brains flood with a different hormone that produces nausea.
The author of that article, a female mountain bicyclist, recounted a story of when she and two male companions encountered a stream they needed to cross. She wanted to travel along the stream bank to find a safer crossing, but her companions wanted to cross the stream right there, pointing out a suitable rock from which to launch a jump and an area in which they might land.
The first companion jumped the stream successfully, but the second ended up with blood leaking out of his shorts down the inside of his thigh. (No word on his prospects for future fatherhood.)
They allowed her to bike along the stream bank and find a safer place to cross.
Moral of the story: Pay attention to Alice. She’s probably right — although at least on a sailboat, you’re not likely to harm vital parts of the male anatomy.