Breeze On

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 chewe...

The crew finished their work on Breeze On by Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning Steve gave us our tutorial on how to use the Leisure Furl system. When we started the wind direction was perfect. Steve spent quite a bit of time explaining how each part of the system worked and why it is important to use it in a certain way. The most critical part is to make sure the lines are set so the boom is at the right angle for the sail to furl without shifting forward or backward. Steve demonstrated a few times before we were ready to try it. When the time came for George and I to practice raising and lowering the mainsail the wind was strong and shifty. George was able to do a partial raise & lower. Steve suggested we practice on our own while anchored in winds of 10 knots or less. So, we left the dock at Jabin’s and motored south to anchor for the night in the Rhode River.  This morning we raised the anchor in the rain and motored and/or sailed home with the jib only. It rained the en...

We left home Sunday morning and motored across the bay in relatively mild conditions. We anchored for two nights in Harness Creek, just south of Annapolis. It was a great choice—while it was gusting up to 30 knots out on the bay we barely noticed any wind in our protected anchorage. We had put the enclosure up to keep us warm and dry. It rained the entire day on Monday and we noted a few leaks from the new dodger which we will address once we get home. We weighed the anchor Tuesday morning before sunrise and motored two hours to Jabin’s Yacht Yard. The stepping of the mast went just as smoothly as when they removed it two weeks ago. This time they had a trip line attached to remove the strap at the end of the crane. We took a few photos of the new furling boom before they attached it. By the end of the day they had attached most of the lines but still had to reconnect the electrical lines and rig the boom brake. It was a cool and cloudy day so it was a challenge for us to find a dry, w...

Included in the agreement for installation of the furling boom was an inspection of our standing rigging (the mast and all of the cables and fittings that hold it up). Yesterday morning Steve Madden emailed George with some photos and asked George to call him. We knew it wasn’t going to be good news. Steve said there was a surprising amount of corrosion for a seven-year-old boat, as well as a fitting that looked to have a cracked weld. Steve said that if he had made those findings while inspecting the rigging with the mast up he would have said we have a few more years before the rigging should be replaced. Since the mast was already off he suggested we go ahead and replace the rigging now. George and I agreed that we would have trouble trusting our rigging now if we didn’t replace it. George told Steve to go ahead. Of course, it will mean more time and more money. Cha-Ching! Sigh... We had planned to stay in the area on the boat for as long as ten days. Now we have decided to motor ho...

We left home Saturday morning and mostly motored to the Rhode River on the western shore. On Sunday we motored 10 miles in light winds to Annapolis and picked up a mooring in the mooring field. We took the jib down, and George disconnected the mainsail cars—they connect the mainsail to the mast—as well as the reef lines. When all of that was done we put the dinghy in the water and dinghied the short distance to shore. The crowd in Annapolis was huge and it really freaked George out. We have avoided any and all crowds for months now and George had no desire to be in the midst of one, even though almost everyone was wearing a mask. We detoured to some side streets that we knew from visiting Pam when she attended St. John’s College and, after taking a brief walk, dinghied back to Breeze On. Numerous boats came into and out of the harbor all afternoon and into the evening. Their wakes churned up quite a chop in the harbor which didn’t calm down until bedtime.  This morning we dropped t...

When we were in the Bahamas last winter we noticed several boats with in-boom furling systems. The first two we noticed were at the marina in Spanish Wells where we checked in. The system on these boats were made by Schaefer Marine and the owners both liked them. We had known about in-boom furling for years but had never seriously considered it until we began talking about it with people who had it on their boats. As the name implies, the system works by furling the mainsail on a spindle within the boom. The advantages of in-boom furling are: -practically unlimited options for reefing the mainsail  -no lazy jack lines to snag when raising the mainsail -no reef lines to sort out -no sail cover  The disadvantages are: -the expense -the need to carefully maintain proper tension on the halyard and furling line, and maintain proper angle of the boom to ensure the sail furls evenly on the spindle -the boom is heavier I believe our interest was piqued when we arrived in the Bahamas b...

Recently, when dropping the anchor, George noticed that he couldn’t differentiate the markings on the anchor chain. We have three colors of spinnaker cloth tied on the chain at intervals so that George can tell how much chain is out. I heard the idea from Pam Wall at a Women and Cruising seminar several years ago. It is important to know how much chain is out to ensure you have enough for the depth and conditions. Other options for marking the chain include painting sections of chain different colors or inserting colored plastic markers that are made for that purpose. Pam Wall recommended the spinnaker cloth because it is easy to attach and doesn’t interfere with the windlass. She said you can go to a sailmaker and ask for scraps of spinnaker cloth, and we did just that.  We went out for a few days at anchor this week. Before we raised the anchor this morning George cut a few more pieces of spinnaker cloth.  He replaced the discolored pieces as he raised the anchor. It is no w...