Islander 32. Aurora's first sail

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:33 pm

Ah, a lovely day. November 13, 2008. Six years and 13 days since that fatefull day when we bought her. A lot has happend. But now that it's sunny and there's a bit of wind let's go for a sail. Wasn't planning to go sailing just motor around abit, getting more familiar with the boat. You know, all the sounds and vibrations, how she moves. Confidence building. And maybe I'll do some sailing, who knows? I enjoy being alone on the boat as much as I do with my family and this time I'm solo. So I stowed everything away, and started the diesel. Tightened the back stay a little and away I went. Because everything is new I wanted a lot of room to try things out. Like furling, unfurling, coming about, jibing, etc. Just trying out everything.

I motored out into the bay with the wind in my back. It was getting windier but I can't sail without wind can I? Released the furling line and pulled on the sheets. Right away the wind grabs hold of it and fills the brand spanking new 135% North Sails genoa. Three wraps around the winch and onto the horn cleat. My diesel off and transmission in neutral. The main sail is not finished yet so all I have to sail with is the genoa. That's plenty in this wind. Away I go on a broad reach at hull speed. Wow! She's flying! Not used to this although I must admit last time I sailed her the bottom was not clean (that's an understatement, there were sea stars attached to it and about a billion mussels) and I never sailed in this wind with her.

I decide to sail on a beam reach and see what she does. By now the wind is really picking up and is blowing about 30 knots. Well she heels. Alot. So I bear off and feel I must reduce sail. But the boat is not quite finished yet and I had forgotten to install a cleat for the furling line. Oh oh. Now all I could use was the cleat at the very back of the boat. I've been using my Simrad 32 tiller pilot so far but in this wind it isn't able to cope. Actually it is and I read somewhere in the manual how to adjust the gain and seastate but couldn't remember... Meanwhile it reacts way to slow for it to be of any use right now. Anyway I need to furl the sail. However the only cleat I can use is a four foot crawl away from the tiller that I can't let go. As soon as I let go of the tiller Aurora becomes very un-lady like. I need to reduce sail though. Oh did I mention there are no lifelines yet? Nor is there a pullpit/pushpit. So I start pulling on the furling line. Nothing. I pull and pull like my life depends on it, and it won't be long before it does. But the sail is new and stiff. Very stiff. And there was also a block missing for my furling line so it runs freely. Now the wind is really picking up and I'm in a full gale!

Desperatly I try to reduce sail area and getting very worried. There's an old injury that acting up and I am getting exhausted. I have way too much sail up for these conditions, I'm alone and on my first sail with a new boat. Maybe this wasn't so smart. I make the decision to risk everthing. The boat's out of control, my autohelm is unable to deal with this and the wind is howling and blowing so strong it almost knocks me down and I have my full genoa flying that I can't furl. I wrap the furling line around the main winch and start winching knowing full well the forces I'm putting on the headstay. It's a calculated risk though. I know it sounds melodramatic but the wind was forcing the crests of waves to topple and break into spindrift and I was at risk of broaching. If the worst should happen by using the winch the mast would fall down which is another way of reducing sail I guess...

Letting the sail flog and timing the waves that rock the boat I manage to furl the sail to about 25% of it's size. I wipe the sweat off my brow and check for damage. None. Good. Now the autopilot is able to handle things and I get a chance to organize the cockpit and check-out the chaos below. I thought I stowed everything properly. I guess not. But I am sailing and things are under control. Wind is from the North and I'm going south. That also means the fetch of the bay is getting greater, and so are the waves...

After about 45 mins of sailing I realise it's time to head back to port because I need to pick-up my daughter from school in two hours and the wind is still increasing. I try beating to windward for a few minutes but that's hopeless. The Diesel is started and after some praying I manage to winch in the last of the sail. Lets go home. Aiming for a few smaller waves I turn the boat around and now face the wind head-on. Holy Shit!! It's blowing a steady 40 knots with gusts to Idontgivaadamnjustwannagohome!

Aurora doesn't have a dodger yet and I'm battling a severe gale. I'm on my knees in the cockpit with the tiller under my armpit being the dodger... i.e. ducking every time the spray comes flying over the deck. Imagine four people each with a bucket full of water throwing those into your face at the same time. That's a lot of water. Again Simbad is disconnected. Between each wave I pop-up from the shelter of the cabin to aim for the waves then duck down again as the water pours over the deck into the cockpit. The height of the waves is about 6 feet and every few minutes one the height of your living room. Twice I saw the foredeck disappear under water! A whole wave washes over the deck. Then the forward hatch is blown open. "Well that's great! Just what I needed right now!" I yell into the wind. I temporary hook up 'Simbad' the autopilot and I run through the cabin to shut and lock the hatch. On my way back I set the second bilge pump to standby just in case. I'm inside and literally become airborne for a moment when Aurora falls into a very deep hole. Back to the cockpit. I consider turning South and go to a goverment marina that has a high seawall but that would mean waves getting even larger before I get there. If I keep going North the fetch (now about 15 miles) gets smaller and thus so do the waves. I decide the latter. The seas are confused. There are waves coming from the North and West. Must be the current. Man am I glad I bought the bigger diesel. Plowing into these waves is straining my blue baby. We 'fall' down the back of one wave and smash straight into the front of the next one. One moment we're doing 5 or 6 knots the next moment we come to a virtual dead stop as we crash into the wave! Then the dance resumes and the whole ritual is repeated. During the worst of it I look to my right and am horrified to see a huge wave cresting over and about to crash into the cockpit from the side. Fearing I'd be swept away I dive onto the cockpit floor grabbing hold of anything solid and brace for what is to come. From my position I see the wave toppling over - and it dissappears under the boat... Naughty wave! Sneaking up on me like that.

I keep going and not wearing any foul weather gear I am thoroughly soaked, cold and miserable. But very happy at the same time. Don't ask me why but I like this. I'm actually enjoying myself. And extra joyful because Aurora is holding up very well. Everthing I built, everything I installed, every screw and item that ended up on or in this ship was installed with these extreme conditions in mind. The sole reason why it cost so much. I'm glad I did.

After about an hour of me slugging it out with mother nature the waves are getting smaller as I get closer to shore. Thats good because I needed to do a #1 real bad and it didn't seem safe to do it any earlier. By now 'Simbad' is ready to take over and I'm off to the head. Don't kidd yourself, there are plenty of really big waves left and one of them decided to hit us broadside while I'm peeing. For a moment I become weightless and smash my head against a bulkhead with such force I see stars. Guess I need to clean the head when I'm back...

Needless to say Aurora and I make it safely back to the marina. Time to reorganize the mess below, hose down the boat with fresh water, and do some household chores around the toilet... a half hour later I'm in the school yard picking-up our daugher. It's a bright sunny afternoon and some folks are in T-shirts. I'm standing there looking like something that the cat dragged in and my clothes still dripping wet. What a day!

David · Post by **David** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:59 pm

What kind of furling system are you using.

David

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:22 pm

What a first sail, and with your description I could imagine the conditions very well. Almost expected to suddenly have saltwater streaming off my hair and clothes here at work :)

Aurora reborn!

R.

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:57 pm

Yeah, some first sail. Looking back it was fun and stupid at the same time. Although the whole idea was to find out what I missed. Well for starters a bunch of cleats. Another couple of things came to light during those couple hours and all of them are addressed by now. Except for the lifelines. They'll have to wait untill Feb. next year. The 'problems' with the furler have been resolved. And I've installed an extra 700 lbs of ballast in the keel. I felt the boat was too tender. Haven't been sailing since so I hope it works as I want it to, if not I'll be scooping it all out again. (I used gravel)

This is the furler. A Harken Cruising Unit 1.

David · Post by **David** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:02 pm

You probably know this already—excuse the advice if you do. It’s sometimes a good idea to turn downwind when it is time to reef or roll in a furling jib—it helps in stronger winds since there is less apparent wind. I take my furling line thru a rope clutch and I mark the line where my normal reefs are for my gennny. Then when I am unfurling the sail I can see my reef mark coming up and lock the clutch to keep the wind from unrolling the sail more than I want. When I roll my sail in I take a turn of the sheet around the winch to keep some tension on the sail so it rolls tightly. Obviously in the amount of wind you had the sheet would have to be slacked all the way to roll in the furler.

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 10:40 pm

Thanks for the advice, I've sailed all my life but always on smaller boats and have very little experience with a roller furler. That said, I was going downwind, down-gale I should say. The problem I had was caused by a lot of little things. The sail had never been used. Very very stiff, think milk bottle plastic. Next the furling line was lead aft via Nylon Bullseye Fairleads screwed on to the toe-rail. But when I needed to furl the sail, I had to use my butt to prevent the boat from broaching (tiller) and pull on the furling line at the same time. So the line exited the last fairlead at nearly 90 degrees. Not so smart.
Now a cleat and spring/standup block complement the system. And a little more experience.

Henk.