Very nice but sad day

Javelin

Javelin

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 Sep 2010
Messages
1,413
Location
Southwold
www.southwoldboatyard.co.uk
Sunny and crisp with a brisk off shore wind today, lovely day but how many more are we going to get this year as for a start tomorrow looks awful.
So decision made to take sails off, haul up the halyards into the mast and bag up the tails and generally put the girl into hibernation for the winter.

Thus hopefully guaranteeing some lovely sailing days for all of you who decided to wait it out.
Good luck.
 
Javelin said:
Sunny and crisp with a brisk off shore wind today, lovely day but how many more are we going to get this year as for a start tomorrow looks awful.
So decision made to take sails off, haul up the halyards into the mast and bag up the tails and generally put the girl into hibernation for the winter.

Thus hopefully guaranteeing some lovely sailing days for all of you who decided to wait it out.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

Yes, the Carnival is over.

Not to worry. I'm sure the pleasure would be much less if we could do it all year.

There's all those projects to look forward to and a nice hot chocolate on a crisp day with
your mates in the clubhouse.
 
Last edited:
LONG_KEELER said:
There's all those projects to look forward to
Click to expand...

I think what you mean by that is ducking around in the engine room, dropping spanners down the bilge, banging your head, cracking your knees, scratching arms on hidden cable clips and generally suffering many boat related injuries whilst trying to repair broken stuff :) :friendly_wink: :friendly_wink: :friendly_wink:

My major project is to get the remainder of the interior sorted and the last few electrical gizmos fitted with a new bog. Then start planning a few trips away with friends and work colleagues. Next year is going to be epic :cool:
 
Our annual autumn nightmare is over at last. I(we) am hopeless at folding sails. When on board, it is as much as I can do to get the sails into bags small enough to put in the car. Our coachroof and deck have no flat enough spaces to spread out on, and the inner shrouds intrude. Doing it on the pontoon is not really an option either, if only because it is a steel grid and uncomfortable to sit or kneel on. At least I/we did it on windless days for a change, and some time spent on the living-room floor has actually resulted in quite nice bundles now, but with my boat at 'only' 34 ft, I can't imagine how people manage with a forty-foot sloop's sails. A laminate jib and Hydranet main don't help either.
 
On light wind days I fold the sail, concertina style. as I drop it onto the side deck or onto the coach roof aft of the mast.
My side deck is just wide enough for a fold so I find I can guide the sail with one hand whilst lowering the halyard with the other.

With the main sail I undo the lazy jacks, reefing lines and then the boom, remove all the slides and cars from the mast and then hoist the main up loose..
Then lower the main slowly onto the coach roof, folding as I go.
I use this technique on lots of customer boats where we're tasked to de-rig them.
 
Last edited:
matthewriches said:
I think what you mean by that is ducking around in the engine room, dropping spanners down the bilge, banging your head, cracking your knees, scratching arms on hidden cable clips and generally suffering many boat related injuries whilst trying to repair broken stuff :) :friendly_wink: :friendly_wink: :friendly_wink:QUOTE]

I know what you mean. :)
We are all double hard but I do think sometimes of the old time smacksmen ? fishing under sail through the winter. Tough old boys.
Click to expand...
 
Javelin said:
On light wind days I fold the sail, concertina style. as I drop it onto the side deck or onto the coach roof aft of the mast.
My side deck is just wide enough for a fold so I find I can guide the sail with one hand whilst lowering the halyard with the other.

With the main sail I undo the lazy jacks, reefing lines and then the boom, remove all the slides and cars from the mast and then hoist the main up loose..
Then lower the main slowly onto the coach roof, folding as I go.
I use this technique on lots of customer boats where we're tasked to de-rig them.
Click to expand...
Yes. With the jib I try to lower it in stages and fold it as it drops, but this only works up to a point because the forward lowers narrow the space. With the main, the gate is perhaps a couple of feet up, and we have always dropped it peak first, which makes folding difficult. I think your idea of doing it foot-first is much better, but I will still have too little space to lay it out. The foot when extended goes from the fixed screen to well ahead of the mast via a gap of about two feet, which complicates matters.
 
snowbird30ds said:
How do you think I feel, taking sails home is easy....

All so I can get the fuel tanks out.
Click to expand...

Ouch. Mate had his cut out with a plasma cutter in the boat and new ones welded in situ. Cost a few bob for onsite work but saved the hassle of poking a hi-ab though the ass end of his boat to do what you've done!

What boat have you got? Nice set of VPs :)
 
Hoping to get time to lay up after a non season, we launched in March, family issues meant little sailing until our summer holiday, when the engine failed, fixed one week before moving house, and one week later MIL had a major stroke, now commuting to hospital, a 200 mile round trip, everyday we're not working (and some we should be) for seven weeks so far. Happily the boat's a short diversion on the hospital trip so we know all is well.

Next year WILL be better, with fair winds and pleasantly warm sun, and one day before March we will lay up! And we may get some nice sailing weather after Christmas ;).

For the last few years we had a 30' conservatory for drying and folding sails, that's now gone so we'll be testing Javelin's technique. It always amazes me how small a bundles they become when folded, whereas they fill the car if just stuffed into the bags.
 
Last edited:
This year for the main, I left the battens in, and pulled the whole thing off in the stack pack... majorly easy compared with the other option, and the sailmakers (Gowens) about 300 yards from the boat are more than happy to sort it on the loft floor prior to washing... I'll be doing that again!:D
 
Javelin said:
Sunny and crisp with a brisk off shore wind today, lovely day but how many more are we going to get this year as for a start tomorrow looks awful.
So decision made to take sails off, haul up the halyards into the mast and bag up the tails and generally put the girl into hibernation for the winter.

Thus hopefully guaranteeing some lovely sailing days for all of you who decided to wait it out.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

Always a sad day:(
We have done the same:encouragement:
 
Can I introduce and educate you peeps to the advantage of wooden boats. This is the exciting time of the year. This is the time to plan, prepare and execute a busy 6 months of maintenance and upgrading. None of that boring plastic thing - ho-ho You've shut the hatches, nothing to do until unlock them next year.

Now think of the advantages:

1. Drop the mast - you can check over and easily replace anything worn. And look, with your rigging relaxing, you have twice the life expectancy of your standing rigging. Think how much you save;
2. You can wash all your 'ropes' - warps, sheets, halliards, lanyards. Comfort will ensure that next spring, your hands will be gently cushioned with soft 'ropes' at the start of the season when the palms of your hands are equally soft. I admit
3. Whip all the ends of your sheets and lanyards - such as your halliard frappers or lifeline lanyards. A vital point is to use appropriate red or green whipping twine so you colour code them for the right (or left side). Then you will be able remember which side is which;
4. You don't need the expense of dehumidifiers - a bead of moisture (salt of course) in the bilges will keep the planking tight. Think of the money you will save and the effort;
5. Lightly flatten all the varnish preparation for varnishing in the warmer Spring weather. Think of the time you will save. Use of glasspaper saves you. Having flattened all the varnish you won't need to wash your boat. If it was a plastic boat ready you would have to wash it at the beginning of the next season;
6. Taking home all your electrics to keep them safe and warm is easy. All you need to do is remove the echo sounder and then all your kit is at home and no longer vulnerable. A new battery for it is probably a good idea.
7. There is no need to take your tea home. In a plastic boat, the tea would just fester, unused for 5/6 months infusing the aroma of stale poxy. On a wooden boat, the smell of oak will enhance the flavour of the tea - and anyway as you will be there most days, you'll be using your tea rather than the expense of wasting it;
8. Have you thought of the best advantage of a wooden boat? When you popped down to see the boat on a winter's day and you are a little fatigued and fancy a short nap after a difficult drive, waste of time on a plastic boat: transom slappers! There you are trying to lay yourself out for a nap and there you are - slap, slap, slap. You'll never sleep as the little wavelets in the marina echo in your cabin. And your halliards on your wooden boat will not be whistling (refer to No 1.)

Oh there are some many other opportunities and interests. Just think - each Spring a wooden boat looks as beautiful as good as she was made - whereas a plastic boat - well lets be honest, 'It' never ever looked beautiful - I know, I know I shouldn't be so honest (with apologies to ECF forum rules (Rule A - All members must act at all times with benevolence and bonhomie) - but it is essential to point out the opportunities).
 
You forgot the biggest opportunity of all and the very mostest fun you can have with a wooden boat





























November the 5th :encouragement:
 
tillergirl said:
Can I introduce and educate you peeps to the advantage of wooden boats. This is the exciting time of the year. This is the time to plan, prepare and execute a busy 6 months of maintenance and upgrading. None of that boring plastic thing - ho-ho You've shut the hatches, nothing to do until unlock them next year.

Now think of the advantages:

1. Drop the mast - you can check over and easily replace anything worn. And look, with your rigging relaxing, you have twice the life expectancy of your standing rigging. Think how much you save;
2. You can wash all your 'ropes' - warps, sheets, halliards, lanyards. Comfort will ensure that next spring, your hands will be gently cushioned with soft 'ropes' at the start of the season when the palms of your hands are equally soft. I admit
3. Whip all the ends of your sheets and lanyards - such as your halliard frappers or lifeline lanyards. A vital point is to use appropriate red or green whipping twine so you colour code them for the right (or left side). Then you will be able remember which side is which;
4. You don't need the expense of dehumidifiers - a bead of moisture (salt of course) in the bilges will keep the planking tight. Think of the money you will save and the effort;
5. Lightly flatten all the varnish preparation for varnishing in the warmer Spring weather. Think of the time you will save. Use of glasspaper saves you. Having flattened all the varnish you won't need to wash your boat. If it was a plastic boat ready you would have to wash it at the beginning of the next season;
6. Taking home all your electrics to keep them safe and warm is easy. All you need to do is remove the echo sounder and then all your kit is at home and no longer vulnerable. A new battery for it is probably a good idea.
7. There is no need to take your tea home. In a plastic boat, the tea would just fester, unused for 5/6 months infusing the aroma of stale poxy. On a wooden boat, the smell of oak will enhance the flavour of the tea - and anyway as you will be there most days, you'll be using your tea rather than the expense of wasting it;
8. Have you thought of the best advantage of a wooden boat? When you popped down to see the boat on a winter's day and you are a little fatigued and fancy a short nap after a difficult drive, waste of time on a plastic boat: transom slappers! There you are trying to lay yourself out for a nap and there you are - slap, slap, slap. You'll never sleep as the little wavelets in the marina echo in your cabin. And your halliards on your wooden boat will not be whistling (refer to No 1.)

Oh there are some many other opportunities and interests. Just think - each Spring a wooden boat looks as beautiful as good as she was made - whereas a plastic boat - well lets be honest, 'It' never ever looked beautiful - I know, I know I shouldn't be so honest (with apologies to ECF forum rules (Rule A - All members must act at all times with benevolence and bonhomie) - but it is essential to point out the opportunities).
Click to expand...

Keep up the good work so we can all enjoy looking at and romanticising over your good looking boat as we sail past ;)

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Maybe I'm over confident but I've got the week off next week for a spot of S/H late season sailing. Thankfully that nice mattriches fixed my heater!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top