Sailing happiness

[DLee]

Finally got to go out and play for a little bit yesterday afternoon.

Got to Westport, CT at Long Island Sound with NOAA telling me the wind was 5-10 mph. Indeed a gentle breeze was lifting the American flags from 3/4 to full extension. The sailing schools seemed to be having fun and it was already 1430 on the clock, I knew the wind would be diminishing as the sun went down. So, with both the KS and Klepper S2 in the car I opted for the Klepper rig. It took me a little less than 1.5 hours to rig the boat from car top to sail (I also did a quick repair on the control board).

Wind was closer to 10mph when I launched at 1600 with the main alone and I opted to leave the Sidekicks stowed in the boat. I rigged and raised the jib after weaving through the returning sailing classes - boy where those kids having fun. I hit my max speed for the day of 5.1 knots during this time and was so happy to be out on open water with a steady breeze. I actually set the sail and didn't have to mess with it every 3.5 minutes... Nirvana...

I had grabbed the higher end foam pad for the sailing board and it worked out much better than the BSA pad I had been using. It was a little shorter so it fit better at the end of the cockpit and it was a little bit of heaven on the knees. I found kneeling to be the best position over all. I used the hiking seat occasionally; more to stretch out the legs than to lean though. It's just a bit high and is probably better suited to high wind counter healing than the pleasant winds I had last night.

I sailed until the wind died at about 1930. I was still a little over a mile from the dock so I shipped the sails, lee and control boards. I would have liked to strike the mast out there and stowed everything proper... but the sun was pretty low behind the horizons clouds and I knew my wife would start to worry if I didn't call by dark. Overall it was a hasty stowing of gear - really more of a shove-a-thon, ha.

I did get to try one thing I had been thinking of. I rolled and tied the mainsail on the boom and slid it forward on the upper deck towards the bow. I used the mainsails stay to hold the front of the sail and the forward paddle tie down to hold the rear portion of the sail. This worked well and was generally out of the way for paddling. I've been thinking that having a pocket up front to slide the rolled sail into would be a nice addition to the boat; this little test confirmed that.

Paddling back was fine maintaining the days average speed of 2.9 knots - As soon as I started to get in the zone though I would hit one of the mast stays.

I hit the dock at 2000 hrs. Wrap, dumping the water (from paddling), and top loading the car took another hour.

Max speed for the day 5.1 Knots
Avg speed for the day 2.9 Knots
Distance traveled 7.2 NM
Travel time 2.31 hrs
Total time 4 hrs

I don't know where I lost the 1.5 hours between travel and total time went... I was bucking the current all the way back in as the wind was dying... moving while standing still I guess.

I'll edit and post some video when I get a chance. All in all an absolutely delightful day - totally loved sailing out on open water with steady wind.









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[ChrisO]

Dennis, looks like you are dialed in with the Klepper rig. Very nice!
Looks like this solved the "slows" you had with the Kayaksailor. Maybe the AE II's just need the extra power from the larger sail area of the Klepper rig? Or of a multiple sail set-up like FrankP uses.

BTW, are you still heading out here in August? I could be talked into bringing my T67 and Kette...

Chris

[DLee]

Thanks Jarmland, you gotta love old boat houses... that sounds pretty cool. Couldn't fit everyone in the RZ?

Chris, the S2 rig is awesome, I really love it. I did have perfect conditions the other day but to tell you the truth I'd like to give her a spin with a little more wind. I got the feeling that with a consistent wind the boat will sail really well, even if it's blowing a bit. I think the additional sponsons I added helped a bit as well by widening the bottom a few inches. Sailing without the outriggers was a joy but to be honest as the day began to wane I thought about being in the 70º water at sunset and thought it would be best to stay upright. The nice thing about being on the big water was that I didnt feel compelled to blast forward at full speed and was able to let the sail out a bit increasing the safety response time... if that makes sense.

I had something happen twice that you might be familiar with... I had the wind knocked out of my sails twice by passing sailboats. I had never experienced this before but on two separate occasions a large sailboat passed windward of me and I lost all my wind. Both times I was on a moderate heel and it really made me jump when the boat suddenly stood straight up with no wind in the sail. Had I been on the hiking board I would probably have fallen overboard.

It appears that the S2 sail can be shipped while on the water if the cockpit remains somewhat organized. This is a big plus as the outriggers can obviously be stowed as well. I should have put them on for a little while just to see how difficult the arrangement would be... but I didn't.

All this said... I'm hanging onto the KS. Had the wind been lighter I would have taken it out instead. I wanted to run it with the Klepper lee boards and see how it works. It's really a great little sail and really easy to retract when the wind dies down. I've been thinking of some alternative ways to mount it further back so that the Klepper lee boards are closer to the CE. If I take the cross tube out and use the hulls D rings for mast stays (as the S2 does) I could probably stow the sail up in the bow of the boat when not in use. Bringing the sail back into the cockpit a bit more might be better placement for the sail as well. So I haven't given up on the KS yet. It's also very forgiving and could be sailed all day long without the outriggers. The KS can also be comfortably sailed from the sitting position - I'm not comfortable sitting in paddling position with the S2 rig up (sans outriggers of course).

Forgive my rambling... but please feel free to respond.

I am coming out to CA. We are driving and you'll be interested to know that I'll be carrying a pretty nice T66 with me to it's new owner in Colorado - hear that Steve?! I have to empty out my mom and dad's house so that we can get it ready to sell... so with only a week and a couple days I'm not sure I'm going to have any time to play unless it's really close by - like the Suisun slough some evening. You know there was a kayak group out there that did full moon paddles out of Suisun. That would be pretty amazing... in a comfortably stable boat, ha.

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[FrankP]

Dennis and all, my wife and I took the Long Haul out Monday afternoon at about 3 in wind about 10 MPH. We had a blast and we had the 2.25 mile long lake to ourselves except for 2 pontoon boats and a canoe. We have gotten better at tacking as of late. Backwinding works pretty well and I seldom need to paddle through a tack. The video is an edited mix of 3 videos from Monday. I didn't have a speedometer and we were on the lake for almost 3.5 hours. Cheri kept saying how the sailing Monday was one of her favorite times out. Peaceful is all I could say. Sailing happiness is an apt description.

If you have any tips please share.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx1A1oBuMiI

[DLee]

Frank that is a totally great video! Nice come about as well.

I think we had the exact same day. I recognize that cloud! Seriously... You sailed on Monday, I sailed in NY on Tuesday... conditions near identical... same weather... ha. You're making some nice speed there. Love the use of the drywall pole for the GoPro... nice job of swinging that camera around... better be careful or somebodies going to try and hire you as a jib man... ha. Great stuff Frank.

Does your wife mind having the sheets against her back?

Jarmland... I hear ya.

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[FrankP]

She has not said anything but Monday I moved them back to the d rings behind my crossbar on the spraycover. I think that's all I can do. Since she is not bothered I guess it will just have to do.

We have been backwinding her sail to help get through the wind and most often it works. Now we don't lose all of our speed. Both of the tacks were 180° turns.

[DLee]

The turn towards the end of the video looked great and you picked up speed again really quickly.

Just thought of something for the sheets. Do you think you could rig that block to the rear mast just below your boom? Then you could abandon the D ring arrangement and have the line starting higher up... it might just clear her head this way (or, it might hit her in the head this way...) I think if you made a loop in a line and then attached it to the mast really well with a clove hitch above and below it wouldn't slide and you could give it a good test - actually as long as it stays tight it could probably be a permanent arrangement. Just a thought.

d

PS - just looking at your rig in the opening of the video. It looks like placement as suggested above might not give enough downward pull on the sail...
perhaps there are other suggestions out there.

[FrankP]

Most times we have gone wing on wing downwind, we don't seem toget as much speed as when we are on a beam reach or broad reach. I also get plenty of speed on a close haul. At times it seems on a close haul we don't go as fast as it seems with the available wind. One more observation is we don't seem to be able to point as close to the wind as we would like. Have any of you other BSD sailors found that too?

[DLee]

I had a bit of the same problem the other night. I did have a current pushing against me but I certainly ran into some trouble heading upwind to get home.

In my mind I was tacking back and forth working my way home in a nice Z pattern. In reality, when I looked at my GPS track at home afterwards, I had pretty much gone over the exact same lines at one point - probably FOUR times! A compass on my control board would have shown me that I was tacking a reciprocal course - exactly 180º from what I had just done. No wonder it took me forever to get home, ha.

http://www.dennisleephotography.com/Boa ... /i-kgQhmd4

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[FrankP]

Nice video Dennis. I liked the Blue Danube music. I have to give it to you, not having amas out while you are sailing means you either have guts or you like an unplanned swim.
Your pictures are pretty dramatic.

[DLee]

Thanks Frank. My wife peeked over my shoulder while I was watching your video. "Oh that looks nice! What are those things? (asking about outriggers...) I think I like that."

I should show my wife more of your videos Frank and maybe someday I too will have a BSD rig Ha!

As you said, the conditions were perfect. A stronger wind would probably have brought out the Hobies. But it was really the steadiness of the wind (and the fact that it wasn't blowing so hard) that made it sailable without the safety net.

Probably try the outriggers next time.

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[FrankP]

This weekend was beautiful but no wind at all. You will get it in a day or two. Maybe this coming week after work. Being the boss my work ends when I want it to. Come on wind!