Life in the mooring field, part 2

Sorry I haven't updated in more than a month, I spent over 2 weeks living on Furthur in the Maximo mooring field off Eckerd. Arthur came by DIYC one wednesday when I was working and suggested we sail Furthur back to Eckerd. The deck hard was installed, there was a nice sea breeze, and I hadn't had lived in the mooring field for about a month. After finishing work with Speed Merchant Services, I threw a coat of Teflon wax on the bottom of Furthur to slow the growth or algae and barnacles.

Expecting a reach and beat in 15 knots of sea breeze, I hanked on the #4 jib and organized the cabin for sailing. Arthur came back from the store with some food, drinks, and 2 gallons of gas. We finished rigging the boat and launched her without any issues. But as luck would have it, right as we hoisted the main the sea breeze died. We did the longest bare-headed jib change, as I had to switch all the hanks from the #4 to the #1. Even with the #1, we were making little to no headway in lumpy swell with no wind. I broke out the motor and we took off for Eckerd.

After running the outboard dry once, we found some pressure and started sailing again. Arthur loves tuning and tweaking boats, and we started experimenting with different settings. This was extremely educational and really helped me get the boat up to speed. Because the SC27 has masthead rig that bends like a telephone pole, backstay tension mostly controls headstay sag. Adjusting the backstay drastically changes the boat's sailing characteristics: more tension de-powers the jib, but helps our pointing upwind; less tension powers-up up the jib at the cost of pointing, but this is great in light wind and/or waves. The new hardware layout allowed for instant adjustments, which will help us change gears faster.

We anchored under sail and a friend picked us up in the dinghy. For the next two weeks, I mostly slept on Furthur instead of in Kappa. I would row to class in the mornings, hang out in my room or on the boat during the day, eat dinner ashore, then row out at night. While anchored off Eckerd, I faced some serious trials, including being unable to row out to in a storm. On a different morning, I woke up to waves hitting Furthur's bow from the side, instead of head on. The keel had just touched the mud off Eckerd and I was 10 feet from the mangroves. I called Cody and started prepping for the extraction. Pulling up the anchor revealed that the chain had wrapped between the fluke and shank, keeping the flukes from digging in. I reset the anchor in the channel with the dinghy as Cody just charged in the chest deep (for him) water to reach Furthur. Between heeling the boat over to reduce draft, the little 2-horse outboard screaming at full throttle, and the anchor line loaded on a winch with one of us grinding, we were able to get to deep water. The chain wrapping around the anchor and dragging was a random turn of fate. Luckily, the grounding was soft and Furthur appeared to have no structural damage. Cody and I also learned a lot about grounding recovery!

There were plenty of good times too. I took friends cruising, Cody and I practiced double-handed sailing, and we continued to learn how to sail Furthur fast. Then I got an email from West Florida PHRF, the SunCoast Race Week Notice of Race had been posted. SCRW is 3 days of point-to-point distance racing around and out of Tampa Bay between the St. Petersburg, Davis Island, and Bradenton Yacht Clubs. This would be a perfect opportunity to line up against some other boats in a distance race, hopefully with some downwind sailing.

Almost done... ...then time to SAIL!

Almost all the new deck hardware has been installed, the only issue was the big washers for the clutches overlap. I was going to grind down an edge on each washer so they would fit, but the Speed Merchant trailer (and the bench grinder in it) wasn't at DIYC today. If I can find a bit of G-10 I'll just make a backing plate and use smaller washers. Thank you to my friends Leigh and Dan, who came out to help and didn't complain at all about finishing the job in the cold and dark!

Regardless, everything looks great and I'm really happy with the refit. Except for the clutches, all we have left to do is rebuild the traveler car with new bearings and figure out the lines for the backstay purchases. I'm thinking of using either Vectran of SK-78 Dyneema for the backstay and coarse purchases, with some New England Ropes Finish Line for the fine purchase. Lastly, after some shopping around I finally got a good price for some new pipe berths and they should be done in about 2 weeks. It's been nuking here with big swell in the Gulf and I can't wait to get Furthur back in the water for some offshore sailing practice.

Officially Entered in the Pacific Cup

Furthur is officially entered in the Pacific Cup, I just paid the entry fee! It looks like we'll have some really good competition in the double handed class; maybe they'll split the DHers into two classes so we aren't racing against a carbon fiber Mini Transat boat with a canting keel.

Photo Essay of the Deck Hardware Installation, Part 1

Arthur and the original pit set up.

Old School: A winch for each halyard and 8:1 vang with SS wire.

New School: 12:1 vang with Dyneema line lead to both sides of the cabin top.

Just mocking it up.

Halyard clutches and 2 winches instead of 3.

We taped over the holes to protect the balsa wood core from any moisture.

The tools of the trade.

Every battery drill I came across was dead, so I used this beast.

Using templates Cody made, I could accurately drill holes for the new hardware.

The view from Furthur's dry slip.

Dry, golden brown balsa core.

Each hole was taped from below and filled with thickened epoxy injected from a syringe. The holes for all the bolts were drilled over-sized, then the correct size holes will be drilled through the epoxy plugs. This creates a water proof barrier between the bolt and core to keep the core dry and strong.

The Office

Here are a few photos of the Speed Merchant trailer...

The Zen view out the back of the trailer

Getting ready to give Furthur a major upgrade

Last Wednesday Cody and I doublehanded Furthur from the mooring field off Eckerd back to DIYC. We decided against doing the delivery the Friday before; as there were intense squalls, driving rain, lightning, and a 51 knot puff at DIYC. The breeze was out of the south, which would have made for a crazy fun ride, but possibly at the expense of breaking something. Instead, we sailed in 15-20 knots out of the Northwest, too tight an angle to hold the kite, but good "leaving SF Bay" Pac Cup practice. The last leg to DIYC was a beat and I finally figured out how to get the SC27 to depower and point: just keep adding backstay.

With Furthur back on the trailer at DIYC, I can sleep a little better not worrying about the anchor dragging. Also, my order of parts arrived, except for the cam cleats. Cody and I plan on going to DIYC tomorrow to start unbolting old hardware and mocking up the new stuff. It's no good in a pile on my desk...

Santa Cruzin'

With a strong wind out of the East and no rain on Sunday, I figured the conditions would be perfect for a fast run to Eckerd. With 30 knots of wind at the DIYC club house, it would certainly be a great oppurtunity to get Furthur surfing with the spinnaker up. I got Sheehan, Arthur and Julia to come along, and due to our usual timeliness, Furthur wasn't launched until the sun was setting. I am pretty sure I have sailed this boat more at night than during the day. The wind didn't feel like 30 knots, but over 20, so we rigged up the #4 jib and took off. Arthur put four waypoints in the GPS that would take us safely to Eckerd, and the course to the first mark was just a little to high to carry the spinnaker in that much breeze. Instead, we worked up some and made sure all the lines were run correctly for a smooth spinnaker set.

Turning down some for the next mark, we were able to carry the 1.5oz Runner with the #4 up as a staysail until the angle became too deep to keep the jib up. With more water between us and the weather shore, the chop and swell increased until we were surfing nicely. No one was watching the GPS, but I would guess we were hitting 12-13 knots when there were waves to surf. I can't wait to surf some endless Pacific rollers!

We made the trip in just over 3 hours, probably our fastest run. I don't know the mileage, but Arthur and I plan on keeping track of these runs and probably racing against each other for fun along this route. I kept Furthur at the Eckerd waterfront overnight and slept onboard, then left before anyone noticed. Furthur spent the today rafted up with Arthur's boat, but tonight I will anchor her seperately. I have class tomorrow, but plan on sleeping on the boat tonight and borrowing Arthur's dinghy tomorrow to go to class. Here are a few photos of the boats rafted up at the mooring field across from Eckerd.

Rowing from Eckerd with Indian Key and bridge leading to the Skyway in the background

Looking toward Eckerd. Furthur looks so much smaller than the Vital 26 even though she is a foot longer.