My inaugural Sock Burning was today, the first day of spring 2009.

Good bye socks, Hello spring!!

just finished experimenting with a new way to step the mast. The “J-world Technique”.

Basically, it’s a 460cm (~15ft) 2 piece carbon windsurf mast with a sheave in the tip and a rubber padded bottom end and line for six stays. This ‘lifting mast’ sits nicely on the deck step next to the mast step. The downhaul line on the windsurf mast extension can tie off to the mast step to prevent it from going anywhere.

I initially thought I could get away with just 3 cap stays but the windsurf mast was too flexible so I rigged up 3 more lower stays and that did the trick.

I like it a lot! It’s very easy to set up and I can raise and lower the mast with complete control all by myself. Also, the 2pc. windsurf mast is portable enough to have on board.

Well I’ve finished designing the layout for the name…

Went up the boat around noon yesterday. Beautiful sunny day and blowin 20 knots!!

I sailed down to beaverton

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ke2s80sYiB8 where my budz were all windsurfing. I anchored in 3 feet of water and went windsurfing.

Pro windsurfer and friend Phil Soltysiak (can-9) was there and I took hundreds of pics of him while he did insane freestyle moves mere feet away!!

Sat in the cockpit afterwards and drank ice cold beer with some shots of B&B to warm up.

Back at the beach we watched the sunset, over a couple more cold ones, then I waded out, climbed aboard and enjoyed a moonlit sail back. The wind still pumpin 20 knots and I averaged 6.5 kts all the way home! This pic is a long exposure with the moon appearing to fly in circles because of the waves.

WHAT A DAY!!

Boy, what sail I had last night.. logging my 37th sail of this, my first, season and still ‘wet behind the ears’
The wind was building and gusting to about 20kts. I was having the time of my life surfing down the waves on a broad reach with full main and 135 genoa. I hit a max speed of 8.5kts surfing but averaging a good 6.5 most of the time. Decided to reef the main when it got dark, not long after that I was on a wave fighting a broach when the lower hinge of the rudder cassette came away, snapped both bolts!!!
Wholly round up! I let the main sheet out, furled the genoa and went below for tools to get the rudder on board before the top hinge got ripped off too. The top portion of the aluminum cassette was getting twisted up pretty bad as the rudder dragged and leveraged on it, but I managed to pull the rudder out and brought it safely on board.
I tell ya, it took a conscious effort to stay calm in the chaos.
A very uncomfortable motor home.. (under sail is SO much more stable)
What an adventure. Lots of lessons learned.
In a sick and demented kind of way.. I kinda liked it!
Now I gotta figure out how to straighten out this cassette and the bent up hinge brackets..
Today I examined the transom pretty thoroughly and cant see any major damage. Very surprising to see stainless bolts snapped and the hinge brackets all bent up without having ripped a chunk of fiberglass out. didnt even flex enough to crack the gelcoat.
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Boy, the summer has finally arrived. Blazing heat, sunburns all around.

Here’s a few pics from the weekend.

Went out last night for a quick sail. Arrived at the marina, fixed the furler and was underway by 7pm. Winds from the NW at about 8 knots gusting 15.

Brought an old GPS with me to see my speed. I was amazed to see how effortlessly 5.5 knots is achieved!

Everything went flawlessly and I had the most incredible 1 hour sail!

Jenn, Johnny, Dublin and I got out for a couple hours on friday(may 9) in winds of about 5 knots which was nice because we just cruised along and Jenn did a lot of steering while I tried to figure out how to set the sails. Johnny played down below. Dublin just wandered around with a worried look on his face. It was great.

I took Icarus out single-handed on Saturday in 5-15knots and that was a blast! Had to lash the tiller with a dock line to get up on deck for a lot of things. Including pics. This boat is really nicely balanced and feels like a dinghy in it’s liveliness and responsiveness. you can kind of steer it by weight, heel her over and she rounds up while flattening her out turns her off the wind slightly. That’s how it feels anyway.

Even had a chance to make tea and fry up some mushroom risotto that Jenn sent with me.. Drank some beers and did a shot of B&B prior to cast off and prior to bringing the sails down at the mouth of the harbor in 15 knots and 3 foot rollers.

I feel like my sailing virginity has been popped. I’ll never be the same. hehe.

Woo Hoo!!

finally made it into the water and into her slip for the ’08 season.

The launch went well. Jenn and I were able to step the mast and get ‘er into the water by ourselves. Had a bit of motor trouble but it’s pissing rain for the next few days so I will be servicing it. something I should have done over the winter, I know.

There she sits! purty eh? I think jenn has some mast stepping shots on her camera that I will upload soon.

here they are: