Xenon Rudder

A comment I have about dinghy boats is that often are not the manuals available to show you how to fix minor problems. The only knowledge source is in the collective mind of the sailing club. For example, when I snapped all the lines in my rudder (see Man Sailing ) I was left guessing as to exactly which bolt the two lines should be threaded. Well if you have this problem, look at the two pics below and this will give you a clue.

Before you get too far in re-threading your stock and tiller assembly, you need to make a decision as to which type of cord you are going to use. Yes! There are 2 types of cord; that which 'gives' a bit and that which doesn't. The cord which doesn't 'give' or stretch is generally used for halyards and the like - nothing worse than sails coming down in a race and apparently the other type is more useful for sheets.

Before the man sailing day my rudder was pulled down on a 2:1 pulley with non-stretch cord. I have made a decision that since I am likely to hit mud again that it will be a better idea to use the stretchy stuff; it's cheaper as well. It's the white cord in the image above.

Speaking of cost, I was gobsmacked by the price of a stock and tiller assembly + rudder blade. At the time of writting it is in the region of £500 - see here. To all Topper Xenon owners, look after your rudder.

Man Sailing and Gunships

Last Sunday's sailing was tough and I have classed it as proper man sailing - apologies to all women sailors!

The Barman and I had the boat going to Brightlingsea and once the estuary opened up we got the Xenon going like a speedboat. Now the forecast said it was going to be a managable F4 wind which was perfect; unfortunately it was much stronger. On return and checking the Brightlingsea Sailing Club website (see above) we had been out in a F6 gusting +30 knots.

When we started to plane off Brightlingsea, I have to admit I was starting to get a little scared, not necessarily because of the wind but the size of the waves that we started to hit and the fast approaching shoreline directly ahead of us. To add to the man-sailing day an Apache AH64 gunship flew overhead as we were bombing along looking cool.

Now the real challenge was getting 8km back up river and maintaining control (i.e. not capsizing); as a result my tacks became real girly (I've made my apologies already).

Problems came when we found a mud bank opposite Arlesford Creek and came to a sharp halt; I had managed to get the nose pointing back down wind before both centre board and the rudder had to come up.  We then found ourselves on a very difficult to control run in a foot of water, all lines on the rudder snapped again(!) and the tiller looked like it was going to break as I tried to keep us straight - it started not to be so much fun. I wasn't able to get the rudder back down properly so we had to limp the last 4km back in to Wivenhoe. All in all an exciting and challenging sail.

Update on dress in the boat - it is time for wetsuits.

How to Capsize a Topper Xenon

I finally capsized the Topper Xenon with the Barman!

Today was a damn good outing - HW was at approx 4pm and we launched at about 2:45pm from Wivenhoe Sailing Club. May be it was a little ominous but I botched the start again - need to get the rudder down faster so I get control of the boat before we get blown into the mud in front of the club house. Knee deep in mud we had a second launch and were much more successful.

The pic above shows how good the wind was - we were out on the peaks. It's on days like this you need a warm-up program as you get a proper workout as the invisible hand (called the wind) flicks the sails with its finger randomly. At 3:45pm we were opposite Bateman's Tower at Brightlingsea (took about 50min - remember we had a botched start). Hmm seems we were averaging 6 m.p.h. which is not too bad - feels faster!

There were a couple of skiers about and oddly enough the RNLI were attending a boat on the east shore.

We had turned and were heading back when it all happened. We tried to line the boat up for a mega down-the-river-gybe with the spinnaker up all the way. We were just about on the plain as it was but this was going to be even faster - sadly not. Only a couple of minutes after we had the spinnaker up, we were over powered by the wind and into the Colne River we went - salty yum.

So we are in the water. Initially puffing because of the cold. All of a sudden the boat is massive - only our heads are above the water and the boat towers high-up floating on its side. We have to right her. I swim round the back and the dagger board is above my head at the top of my arms reach. I get both hands on. Kicking my feet and hauling myself up I get laid across feet still in the water. Nothing happens. Slowly it starts to move towards me and we shout at each other as it comes up straight. Sails up and wind blowing it starts to race off and blows over again. This time worse. The mast starts to sink and she begins to turtle. This is not good. Our arms are aching as we try to haul ourselves out of the water and right the boat. It starts again but blows over. We keep going and getting tired fast curse not going to the gym enough. A speedboat approaches and offers help. They haven't a clue what to do. We need to get the nose to the wind when we right her. A rope is tied to the front and it hauls the nose towards the wind. Another young guy pitches up in a speedboat but he is on his own and useless. We start again. Tired, it's getting harder and I understand how people get too exhausted to do anything. It works though and I try to get over the side. It's too difficult now and I go over the transom at the back instead. I bring down all the sails. The Barman needs hauling on board, he's tired out as well. We re-organise the sails. Thank the speedboat people and get on our way. We are knackered.

It's not over though as we have a few miles to do.

However this is when the good bit happens. All the time I thought I had been on the plain previously were mistaken. We were hurtling along when all of a sudden the boat lifted up above the water and we had a significant turn of speed - WOW it made it all worth it.

There are many lessons learned here - see my coming blog about gennakers (!) - but I would recommend if you are going to do daring things with dinghies and they are 10ft+ it is well worth getting a mast float. Next time I go out, I need to take the mast down and wash the top where it scooped mud from the bottom of the River Colne (meconium style [er....look it up]).

Handicap System

I have discovered that it is not just enough to have the most pointy-fastest boat in the club. There is another thing called the handicap system which I must over-come.

Today's race took us up to the Ancient Roman Port of Hythe, yes up to King Edwards Quay in Colchester (who would have thought that Colchester has a port). In short, lovely sail through green fields to finally turn at the dirty arse Colchester bit. If someone dredged that bit at the top where we turned, there is a fortune to be made out of the marina that could be there. Instead Colchester has opted for the VAF further into town - read the link, I know which one I'd prefer.

Anyway, all was going well until we reached the inevitable turn. Another nautical lesson learned here about which object you refer to in sentences when going around port side - to me it is ambiguous as it could be either the boat or the buoy. As race rules stipulate, having gone round the wrong side, I had to perform a 360 spin - time lost but not too bad. We were still doing well and were vying for the lead. Unfortunately another disaster struck when we hit the mud, became becalmed and drifted into low hanging branches. We crossed the finish line 2nd, but the handicap system meant the Mirror that came last actually won.

So the handicap system is something I will learn to deal with in the next few races; for me and my crew (here on known as The Barman), we both agreed that we would prefer to cross the finish line 2nd than last.

BTW - going round port side means port side of the boat (I think my mind is set to look at everything from a different perspective).

Brave 3rd Sail

Sunday, 17 May 2009

"Er...Captain Hook, have you seen the weather report?", my new sailing buddy asked on the phone.

"Of course! Of course! I checked and it was a F5 and I'm positive that it is going to die down by this evening"

"Er...okay as long as you're happy...Ray who knows at the club says winds are 50m.p.h...."

Pah!...Seemed fine to me when I checked on the net a week before.

In between meeting my buddy at the club house I took the wife for a driving lesson and found a beach further up the coast at St Osyth. We parked and stepped out to look over the sea wall. HOLY COW!! - it really was blowing a gale and there were massive waves crashing into the beach. This was no time for cowards or to show any fear!!!

Launch time 5:30pm (high tide of course!!). Main sail reefed and jib furled (not for long though).
No problemo!!!.
Well I say no problem but because of the wind we were restricted to a 500 yard run in front of the club house.

It was brilliant though. We raced up and down that stretch like a speed boat and for the first time, I really was able to put the boat through a few of her paces - and she through mine.

Getting out the water...there's a challenge when the F5 gusting F7 is blowing straight towards the slipway. The answer is to come in as slow as possible, turn at the last moment and make use of all that lovely mud to land on - then dropping the sales as fast as you can.

Special note - New race-sailing buddy found. He knows what he is doing which helps on this machine.

First Ever Sail

As we launched from Wivenhoe into the Colne River, the tide was in the last 1hr of ebbing, the wind was with us gusting maybe F4-5 so I put a reef in the main sail and we furled the jib. With all that it was the fastest I have ever gone down the river - in 20 min we had covered at least 4km toward the open sea, it was exhilarating. My crew member was slightly less enthusiatic, this not being his boat, at buoy 18 grateful for his work and commitment I turned back.

Going back was fine and easy until we hit the final bend in the river towards the slipway. With 500 yards to go the river became extremely shallow and narrow where we could actually sail. Additionally we had the wind blowing straight at us from between the gates of the flood barriers. Very hard work to follow; the centre board was up and down as we touched the bottom at the end of each tack; we subsequently were having to deal with being blown backwards and sideways. We came very close to having the nose being blow back and finding ourselves on a reach or a run - charging down stream not by our own volition!!!

Nose to wind we finally go to 30 yards from the slipway on the otherside of the river. We were able to beach here and walk her up - then a simple glide across.

Sounds simple, but it was not yet over yet. We were below the bottom of the slipway because the tide was so low. This meant there was 4m of thick uphill mud to get through before we reached the paving This was infact another obstacle as the lip was a foot higher than the mud. We were more wet inside our wetsuits.

Lesson learned!!

At low tide there is no way I can pull the boat up myself....and that was the most difficult part today, the low tide.

To all the future crew members reading this we will be launching and recovering at more favourable tides )I go through all this so you don't have to!!)