Second Short Tour: Fickle winds, a stowaway, and a near miss.

On Easter Sunday, after repairing the main halyard exit block, we set to figuring-out what had gone wrong with the roller-furling. The first problem was that we had not hoisted the genoa all the way, allowing the halyard to become fouled in the forestay. Lowering the sail required a lot of pulling and yanking, until we managed to unwrap the halyard. Than we got very confused with which way round the furling line is supposed to be wrapped, until it dawned on us that it is determined by which side the genoa has the UV stripe.
So it was past 1pm when we motored out of the harbour and than sailed NW following the main navigation channel of the Grevelingen, pushed along by a very gentle wind. On a broad reach, we were doing less than 2 knots. But with the sun shining and summer temperature we enjoyed the lazy sailing.

Sandra (First-Mate) at the helm in glorious weather and flat seas. Notice our convenience flag.

After a while the wind started to weaken further and we came to a standstill. A few seconds of absolute quiet, and suddenly the genoa gets backed and Mekicevica starts turning around her keel. The wind had started to blow from the completely opposite direction. While before we were on a broad reach with a weak wind aiming for one on the green buoys, now we found ourselves beating against a moderate wind to reach the same buoy!

Mekicevica livened-up, and the sequence of tacks made the trip even more enjoyable for boat, crew,… and a stowaway (see photo). Well, paying passenger if you accept as payment the regurgitated crab meat left on the motor.

Luis (Skipper) and a stowaway

The Grevelingen in such nice weather and on a long weekend, can be very busy. Sort of The Solent on a Bank Holiday in good weather. It keeps your knowledge of the colregs sharp. So it was that while beating on a starboard tack, we found ourselves on collision course with a similar sized boat on port tack. Worryingly, she did not seem to change course or speed, and the bearing kept constant and the distance between us getting shorter and shorter. I started to think what evasive action I should take that would not create a confusing situation and possibly a collision. Since we were close-hauled, just a tiny, nearly unnoticeable turn to windward was enough to slow us down and pass a couple of meters astern of the other boat. As I shouted my protest, the guy on the other boat was surprised and really embarrassed as he offered his apologies. Sitting on the gunwales on the weather side, his view had been obstructed by his sail and he only noticed us, when I shouted at him.
Time to return to port. The sudden change of wind meant that we had a bit of fun beating, and then could sail downwind, reversing the very same route that we had done on a broad reach just a couple of hours before.
Unfortunately, work commitments forced us to be home on Easter Monday. After the misadventures of launching, we did not feel like facing recovering that soon, so we paid for a visitors berth for a week. Mekicevica is impatiently waiting for her crew until next weekend.

Maiden Voyage (of a very experienced lady) At Last!

Finally, after seven months of hard work (and zillions of €€€€s spent), on Easter Saturday 2011, Mekicevica was ready to go on the water.

The first attempt two weeks earlier was aborted due to an incident while attempting to step the mast (see post on Winter Chores). The launching process was far trickier than expected and we would have ended in dire straits hadn’t it been for the rescue by an officer of the Dutch Water Police and a catamaran sailor waiting to launch their boats. The fact that the slip we used is badly designed and a death trap is only partly an excuse.

Hint: Using a rope to extend the connection between the trailer and the car seems to work for recovery. But never, ever try to use this method for launching. Contact me for a more detailed description of the pickle you end up in if you try this.

Mekicevica ready to launch. Things went seriously wrong minutes after this picture was taken. I have no idea who is the prat on the right.

Eventually, mid-afternoon of the 23^rd of April 2011, with heart racing, dry mouth, and knees shaking I find myself holding the tiller of Mekicevica and motoring towards a visitors berth at Bruinisse Yacht Harbour.

Mekicevica looking really happy to have her keel in the water again.

Having passed the launching hurdle, we still needed to get the sails ready, load the boat, and solve a fuel leak problem (I forgot to tighten the carburettor drain after the winter storage).

It was about 5pm when we left from Bruinisse for the first short “passage”: a trip round the Mosselenbank on the Grevelingen, in Zeeland.

The route of the short "maiden voyage".

Another problem arose immediately while hoisting the main: The halyard exit block dropped off, and I just had to hope that in such a short trip the halyard would not be cut by the aluminium edge that was left behind.

Finally the magic moment I had been dreaming of for a long time: motor off, a gentle breeze fills the genoa, we are sailing! Bliss!

It was just a small tour in light air to allow boat and crew to get to know each other, but very, very pleasant… until the time to roll the genoa. We had assembled the roller-furling wrongly, and it was stuck. So, I have to sit at the bow and re-thread the furling line by hand. It could have been a sticky situation in more challenging weather.

But all ended well back in harbour for a celebratory dinner with champagne, and first night aboard. 

Winter Chores

For those interested in the boat maintenance aspects, here is a non-comprehensive list of the major tasks that kept me busy during the Winter 2010-2011:

• Scrapping-off a well-established marine ecosystem under the waterline. The neighbour’s cats were especially interested in following this part of the process.
• Sanding nearly everything I could get my hands on, except the aluminium spars. This implied unscrewing and dismantling a lot, until I started to wonder if I would ever be able to put it all together again.
• Varnishing the wooden bits with clear yacht varnish. Looks so much better than the sort of DIY-shop teak-oil that was there before.
• Stripping-out the old and mouldy decoration fabric down below.
• Decorating the cabin using marine plywood.
• Installing electrical wiring for instruments (i.e. an old depth sounder), navigation, and anchor lights.
• Painting the deck and cockpit (excluding the ant-islip). This required the application of a few nautical miles of masking tape.
• Painting the topsides with good polyurethane yacht paint.
• Covering cockpit seats and sole with diamond pattern material. Not only safer, it makes the cockpit look less like bathtub.
• Installing a new spreader bracket. This was a tricky one, since I could not find any standard that corresponded to the section of the original mast. If you have information on this, I definitely would like to hear from you.
• Building a new mast foot, that proved not to be good enough and was upgraded to a self-built mast tabernacle. (I will add a section on this at some stage.) The original mast foot practically fell to pieces on lowering the mast.
• Install navigation and anchor lights.
• Apply antifouling, waterline paint, vinyl lettering…

Along the way, there were episodes that seem entertaining now but were not at the time. Like when we first attempted to step the mast and dropped it smashing the Windex and the brand new navigation lights.