Saturday Jan, my father Phil and I finished off the last few jobs and cleared all the power tools off of NINJOD. With only 7 to 10 knots of wind we dropped our mooring lines and headed out into the river Orwell under engine power.
We pointed NINJOD into the wind and hoisted the mainsail, putting all 3 reefs in as it was hoisted. The headsail followed the mainsail and as we bore away pressure built and the engine was stopped.. phew what a relief to actually be sailing after all the hard work that has been put in.
The light winds gave us a chance to really look at everything. The hanked on headsail set nicely, the batten tension was good and after some adjustment the lazy jacks stopped their flapping.
We headed to wind beating up the river and as the boat speed rose the apparent wind speed increased. With 15 knots of apparent breeze the wind generator spun at a spectacular rate, generating enough power to run all the instruments, the laptop and the autopilot that was steering the boat. The bus voltage was pushed up to 14 volts and 2 amps were being pumped into the batteries. This was really good news as it means that in relatively light conditions I can generate enough power to match the amount of power I consume.
After sailing up and down the river a few times it was time to head back to the marina. I wanted to see what would happen if I let the halyards holding each sail up run free. The headsail was first and as hoped the sail dropped nicely onto the foredeck with minimal hassle and, thanks to the hanks, with no chance of the sail going over the side. We headed into the wind again for the mainsail drop. As the mainsail halyard was released the sail fell at speed. The lazy jacks did their job and gathered the large sail into its folds with no assistance.
Although I do not plan on fully dropping the mainsail in the race there will be occasions when I might have to drop it slightly for reefing or even fully if the weather becomes very extreme. The lazy jacks provide a great way of managing the mainsail and give me a chance to sort myself and it out without filling up the cockpit up with it or worst still, loosing it over the side.