Practice, Practice, Practice

We anchored at nearby Trappe Creek for a night to practice raising and lowering our mainsail in light wind. Steve, whose group installed the system, suggested we practice at least ten times. He suggested that one of us operate the winch while the other stands at the mast and watches to make sure the sail is even and not shifting backward or forward. George took the first shift at the winch. His ten practice sessions went very well. When it was my turn at the winch I did not do as well. Raising the sail is very easy. The difficulty comes when furling the sail into the boom. To furl the sail I wrap the furling line around the winch, then hook the halyard around a cleat and hold the halyard tight before opening the clutch. If I did not hold the halyard tight the weight of the sail would have caused it to fall to the deck. Also, if the luff of the sail (forward edge) is too loose the sail tends to shift forward while furling. If it shifts too far forward it hits the hardware and gets chewed up. By my second furling attempt the sail was shifting forward no matter how hard I pulled on the halyard. Although I was wearing gloves the friction of the line moving through was burning my hand and my shoulder was hurting. I kept having to stop, close the clutches, take the furling line off the winch, put the halyard on the winch, raise the sail then reverse the process again. By my third time practicing I gave up and George finished furling the sail. I had hoped that I would be able to use the furling boom but it just seemed too difficult for me. I didn’t think it should be this hard. We decided to adjust the angle of the boom to see if it helped. Steve had marked the boom vang and topping lift lines which control the boom angle. Maybe the topping lift line had stretched since we left Annapolis. That would cause the aft end of the boom to drop causing the sail to shift forward when furling. We adjusted the topping lift and boom vang to raise the aft end of the boom and I practiced raising the sail and furling one more time. This time it furled well. Phew!

We plan to practice a few more times before we try using it in heavier winds. 

Raising the sail

Beautiful sunset at Trappe Creek