Paradise Bay: a successful experiment
Paradise Bay: a successful experiment
With, finally, a good three day forecast, I left the mooring around 1100, powered until I was past the ferry crossing, then raised sail before a light southwest wind, predicted to back southeast.
As the bay widened between Pahia to Russell and with the wind directly behind me, I gybed from broad reach to broad reach to keep the jib filled, and then out into the main part of the bay, where I set my re-cut cruising spinnaker on the gennaker furling gear.
The first time it went up it had to be raised flying, so the light eight knot breeze was perfect. No problem getting it up and trimmed. The sailmaker did a fine job re-cutting it. The sail looks good; but because of the limitations imposed by the pre-existing shape is comparatively small.
The unknown was how it would furl, and the answer is as easily as I had hoped. Maybe even easier, because the endless furling line needs only to be pulled with one hand. I had thought that tension would need to be maintained on both sides of the loop, which would slow the process.
The sail unfurled effortlessly. Here too there was a surprise in that the drum and the furling line did not spin as the sail unfurled. I don’t understand this and will have to inspect it more closely.
I furled and unfurled the sail a few more times, then continued on a beam reach east toward Cape Brett, thinking that if the wind held I might round it and continue to Whangamumu, an anchorage a few miles south. But as quickly as I can write the words, the wind shifted from south to east, heading us, and collapsing the spinnaker.
I bore off to the north, furled the sail, and lowered it, unclipped the head swivel from the halyard and the lower drum from the anchor chain stopper, which is strongly re-enforced and which I used as the deck attachment point, bagged it all, set the genoa, and brought us back up on the wind.
The wind picked up briefly to 16 knots. Normally I would have furled the jib a roll or two, but in smooth water, decided to let the boat continue heeled 30º.
This lasted about two minutes before the boat rounded up into the wind. The tiller pilot had been steering, and I saw that the light showing it is on automatic was out.
I took the tiller myself, punched a few buttons with the other hand without success, turned off the wind, furled the jib and turned on the engine.
With control regained, I ducked into the cabin and saw that the spinnaker bag had fallen from the quarter berth to the cabin sole and that the autopilot switch on the main panel was in the off position. I conclude that the sail bag hit it as it fell.
I was near the line of islands in the south side of the main part of the bay and powered to Paradise Bay at Urupukapuka Island, one of my favorite anchorages, where I got the anchor down about 1500.
Mold has grown on the luff of the mainsail and the interior of the mainsail cover, so I sprayed them with a mold remover recommended by the sailmaker. This was the first time I’ve had the main up since I returned.
One other boat came in an hour later. There is nothing ashore here, good protection from east and south, and a sense of openness to the west with the nearest island a mile distant. That openness and the sunsets are what I like best about Paradise Bay. Silver sea, almost black hills, dark grey clouds backlit by the sun, a narrow peach band at the horizon. And then a full moon at night.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007