Concerto
Well-known member
Another rough beat with a critical breakage.
The tides meant a lunchtime start at the earliest to leave Kinlockbervie. Got slightly delayed as chatting with the owners of an Oceanus 473. Then I decided the wind had dropped enough so I fly the drone round the harbour. Finally slipped at 13.55. Slowly motored out and the wind seemed a lot stronger so decided on a double reef for the main. The direction was SW, so another beat in stronger winds. Most of the time it was a force 6, but 7 at times. To be able to clear Stoer Head meant sailing on port tack on about 260 for 3½ hours. The tide was being helpful and pushing me southward. When I reached a tacking angle of about 110 degrees to Stoer Head, I tacked on to starboard. This was more comfortable as I was slicing the waves rather than punching in to them.
After about a mile a critical part broke, the pin on the tiller arm to hold the ram. Am I pushing the boat too hard? Are some parts breaking due to prolonged useage? It seems I am becoming a long term test bed for parts to see when they will break. I am beginning to feel slightly jinxed. I will check in the morning if I have a spare one onboard, if not then I will have to reshape a bolt using the multitool and Dremel to have a rounded end. So, I may not be sailing tomorrow as planned.
It was back to hand steering again. The helm is relatively light most of the time, so not really a problem. The new rope on the tiller clutch worked fine when I needed it. There was certainly a lot of heavy spray at times and I am pleased to say the rubber flaps I fitted round the halyard slots in the spray rail seemed to be doing the trick. No water appears to have run across the headlining in the main cabin. Yippee.
The tack was just about right when I reached Stoer Head as I was about ¾ mile to windward and just needed to continue on the same course. Well the wind started to be kind and instead of just laying the course, it veered about 30 degrees and when the windward distance increased to about a mile I decided I could crack the sheets slightly. Silly move as the wind decided to back again by 30 degrees, so had to sheet in again. Slowly the wind then decided to drop, so I unrolled the genoa to a single reef. Later it increased a bit and veered as well. I was on a close reach and it felt great. Then as I approached Lochinver I turned on to a reach and then a broad reach as I entered. After running off for a bit I then turned in to wind to drop the main and continued on under genoa. After pulling out the fenders, I furled the genoa and just coasted under sprayhood while I prepared for berthing.
I decided to fully rig to berth starboard to, but there was only one spare finger for berthing which was port side. Quickly I rigged some more lines and went in as 2 people had come to assist me. It was an easy berth and really did not need assistance, but they wanted to chat about where I had come from and whatb the conditions were like. It was now 21.15. I quickly tidied the boat up on deck including relay all the warps, removing some fenders, coiling the unused warp and finally connection to the mains electricity after several days on batteries alone. Not surprisingly I no longer felt hungry, so just did not bother to cook the chicken curry I had planned.
Its too late to load and resize the photos, I will try and do those in the morning. Last night I did a lot of editting on the next video and it just needs some short phrases added to indetify places and will be ready to load. So, that may be Sunday or Monday.
The tides meant a lunchtime start at the earliest to leave Kinlockbervie. Got slightly delayed as chatting with the owners of an Oceanus 473. Then I decided the wind had dropped enough so I fly the drone round the harbour. Finally slipped at 13.55. Slowly motored out and the wind seemed a lot stronger so decided on a double reef for the main. The direction was SW, so another beat in stronger winds. Most of the time it was a force 6, but 7 at times. To be able to clear Stoer Head meant sailing on port tack on about 260 for 3½ hours. The tide was being helpful and pushing me southward. When I reached a tacking angle of about 110 degrees to Stoer Head, I tacked on to starboard. This was more comfortable as I was slicing the waves rather than punching in to them.
After about a mile a critical part broke, the pin on the tiller arm to hold the ram. Am I pushing the boat too hard? Are some parts breaking due to prolonged useage? It seems I am becoming a long term test bed for parts to see when they will break. I am beginning to feel slightly jinxed. I will check in the morning if I have a spare one onboard, if not then I will have to reshape a bolt using the multitool and Dremel to have a rounded end. So, I may not be sailing tomorrow as planned.
It was back to hand steering again. The helm is relatively light most of the time, so not really a problem. The new rope on the tiller clutch worked fine when I needed it. There was certainly a lot of heavy spray at times and I am pleased to say the rubber flaps I fitted round the halyard slots in the spray rail seemed to be doing the trick. No water appears to have run across the headlining in the main cabin. Yippee.
The tack was just about right when I reached Stoer Head as I was about ¾ mile to windward and just needed to continue on the same course. Well the wind started to be kind and instead of just laying the course, it veered about 30 degrees and when the windward distance increased to about a mile I decided I could crack the sheets slightly. Silly move as the wind decided to back again by 30 degrees, so had to sheet in again. Slowly the wind then decided to drop, so I unrolled the genoa to a single reef. Later it increased a bit and veered as well. I was on a close reach and it felt great. Then as I approached Lochinver I turned on to a reach and then a broad reach as I entered. After running off for a bit I then turned in to wind to drop the main and continued on under genoa. After pulling out the fenders, I furled the genoa and just coasted under sprayhood while I prepared for berthing.
I decided to fully rig to berth starboard to, but there was only one spare finger for berthing which was port side. Quickly I rigged some more lines and went in as 2 people had come to assist me. It was an easy berth and really did not need assistance, but they wanted to chat about where I had come from and whatb the conditions were like. It was now 21.15. I quickly tidied the boat up on deck including relay all the warps, removing some fenders, coiling the unused warp and finally connection to the mains electricity after several days on batteries alone. Not surprisingly I no longer felt hungry, so just did not bother to cook the chicken curry I had planned.
Its too late to load and resize the photos, I will try and do those in the morning. Last night I did a lot of editting on the next video and it just needs some short phrases added to indetify places and will be ready to load. So, that may be Sunday or Monday.
