Monday 27 October 2014

A Sailor's Home in Winter

During winter I try to remove from Mekicevica all that can get damage by cold or damp and bring it home. The house and the garage get filled with boat bits and I wonder how does so much stuff fit in a 19 foot-boat. And this does not include the mainsail (at the sailmaker for small repairs) and the motor (being serviced).

What do owners of big boats do?

Sunday 26 October 2014

Beginning of Winter Projects

First task was to build a new mast support. The one I had last year was designed for allowing to steer under motor with the mast down. Unfortunately it more or less broke to bits. So I am giving up that idea. When the time comes for Mekicevica to escape the cold of the North and journey to the sunshine through the French canals I will get something professionally done in stainless steel.
And here is the mast support mark IV.
Simple but it works. The biggest problem became obvious when lowering the mast: it is not high enough and the boom attachment hit the deck before the mast was resting on the support. Luckily Mekicevica is parked near a container (visible in the photo) and we saved the situation by having First-Mate standing on the container and holding the mast while I released the mast foot.
I'll need to find a solution for when we want to step the mast again.

Friday 17 October 2014

Outhaul

Mekicevica is out of the water for her winter sleep and the usual mile-long list of maintenance jobs.

It was a good season. We did not start until the 3rd of May. This was because of delays in the maintenance jobs, caused by some useless sailmakers who never came to measure the rig.
The last sail of the season was on the 5th of October, which is sort of normal for us.
In between we clocked 57 days of "sailing", if you count the trips from Middelharnis to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Middelharnis, which were mostly motoring.

The highlight of the season was the trip to the Waddenzee on our own keel, a total of ca. 360 miles. Mekicevica and crew were tested by winds up to 6 Bf, the infamous waves of the Ijsselmeer, and the strong tides of the Wad. We can claim to have passed with flying colours. In the process, the skipper called Mekicevica home for four weeks... and did not miss any of the comforts of life on land.

We are already dreaming plans for 2015...

Sunday 12 October 2014

A Failed Attempt to Prolong the Sailing Season

The end of the season is approaching, but we thought we could fit one more weekend of sailing. The weather forecast was not too bad: we may get a bit of rain but the temperatures are still very mild.
Friday evening we went to Mekicevica, prepared a Japanese-inspired meal on board and went to sleep.

Unfortunately saturday was much worse than forecast: after some moments of sunshine to give us hope, it started to rain. And it rained, and it rained, and more rain was coming.

We packed our stuff and went home. I think the season is finished...

Monday 6 October 2014

Getting Wet and Cold in Scharendijke

It is not every weekend that we get a forecast of southerlies on Saturday and northerlies on Sunday. Ideal for a trip north, but since we've been to Ouddorp last weekend, now we opted for Scharendijke. We've not been there this season.

Friday 3 October
Friday was warm and hardly any wind, so I went on a bike ride to check the harbour of Bommenede for future trips. It has pontoons for public use but no shore facilities. The nearest village, Zonnemaire,  is a pretty "Zeeuwse dorp" well worth a visit. Maybe next season...

Saturday 4 October
After dinner aboard we got up late on Saturday, as the mornings are getting a bit chilly. As forecast there was a gentle SE breeze, and around 1045 we were happily sailing along under blue skies on the very calm and quiet Grevelingen.
Autumn skies with July temperatures, and a following gentle breeze. Perfect!
Most of the trip was on a broad reach, except for a little bit when we were running goose winged. Too short to bother with the whisker pole, as soon we had to turn east and reach past Den Osse and towards Scharendijke. We never needed to tack, but approaching our destination the wind got a bit gusty, going from nearly nothing to 3 Bf and back in seconds. Since we were close hauled, and the gusts were not strong that made the direction of the apparent wind change wildly. Mekicevica approached harbour in the fashion of a stumbling drunk, following a wobbly douse, and going from flapping sails and swinging mast, to heeling under the gusts of wind.
Shrimper nr. 243...
and Crabber nr. 3, both a long way from Cornwall.
In all it was a rather fast trip: three hours harbour to harbour, covering 11 NM. We had plenty of time for a walk along the coast, finishing with a Belgian beer at the club house.
The forecast storm arrived just as we were about to go out for dinner and it was worse than expected, with heady rain, thunder, and strong wind gusts. We arrived to the restaurant completely soaked.

Sunday, 5 October
On Sunday, true to the forecast the temperature plummeted, the wind veered north to northeast, but was stronger than expected. We put a reef in the main and sailed out, first close hauled and then on a broader course.
The racers were out early.
As the day progressed the wind got weaker and gradually veered east, so that while keeping a straight course of 120 we went from a broad reach with reefed main and three rolls in the genoa, to approaching Bruinisse in a close reach with full sails. Again a fast trip of three hours harbour to harbour. That was a good thing because despite the sunshine it was a bit cold: thermals, two fleeces and sailing jacket.
Another great weekend of sailing. A brilliant way to close the season?