Serge is doing most of the work thus far. Work and photo are credited to him! Big time.
Cleaning her. Makes a bit psychological difference to have a clean dry boat.
Getting ready for the twin sail. I will try to get some downwind sailing and try that sail.
Getting the nuke plant (fuel cell) and additional batteries on board
Cleaning up and drying out
Rinsing, taking the salt off the wet racing weekend so she is in a great shape for the qualifier.
Twin sail, blast reacher and jib #4 and the trysail. The storm sail is out of sight but should be on the boat by now.. Will also take a #3 but given the forecast of anywhere between 10 and 25 knots I will probably not bother taking a #2 jib... (my single handed 'genoa')
Also loading up the solar panel.
Setting up the offshore stanchions
Drying things out
Taking a rest
She is beautiful.
Given the weather forecast I expect a wet ride full of spray even on a reach so we are setting up the dodger to help keep the cabin as dry as possible. Although my stepping inside will probably make it instantly wet!
I will see if I can test the autopilot extensively so I might try to spend as much time as possible sitting on a cushion in the companionway, protected by the dodger from the worse of the spray.
Having a small boat has advantages - the loads are very manageable, even though she does load up quite a bit in heavy weather, I can go to the front of the boat within minutes if anything needs done up there, I can reach pretty much anything in the cockpit, she is easy to steer because she is super light and she has miniature sails given her weight and size.
The drawback is that she has a very low freeboard which makes her a super super wet boat in any kind of weather. Chop breaks over the deck and spray will attack deck and crew with no mercy for hours on end in any kind of breeze. So I have equipped myself with top of the line ocean foul weather gear, and when it gets cold, very warm fleeces, etc... as well as helmsman gloves and foul weather hat...but the best is to keep out of the spray and that's what I am hoping this little dodger will help with! The more comfortable and dry you can stay, the less energy you spend fighting the elements and the more you have for yourself even on limited sleep.
- and I will rig the line so that I can steer the boat from the companionway too.
Isn't she beautiful?
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