Inshore and offshore sailing

Time to ramp it up a gear and head offshore in the coming weeks. If your keen for some excitement and want to race, now is the time to throw your hat in the ring as we work up to some more challenging offshore events.  You will need a wet weather jacket and pants if you have them and a polar fleece as it can get cool offshore. I have all the safety gear required. If your worried about seasickness there are plenty of natural and pharmacy drugs, ointments, bands etc, so just take what works for you, take it early and regularly and don't sweat it....we've all been there.

Crew positions available for:

24 Mar 12 (Sat) - Inshore Sternchaser race. Meet at Salamander at 1100h so we can do some more practice. Our Handicap should be 1.000 which equates to equal time, so we should start racing at 1300h.

31 Mar 12 (Sat) - Offshore Port Stephens to Newcastle. Meet at Salamander 1000 h and arrive at NCYC around 1800h for some well earned drinks and some excellent nosh.

01 Apr 12 (Sun) Offshore Newcastle to Port Stephens. Depart NCYC at 0900h and arrive Salamander around 1600h.

Wind.....what wind

So much for Saturdays forecast 30 knots.....blew about 20-25 tops, but it was a miserable sort of day. Can't for the life of me remember when I last spent a FULL day at home! Made a change to relax and read.......ok, it was about sailing! At least I managed to get some work done on RW today.....helped along with some cold ale. I have finished installing the Solent Stay deck fitting and some more non-slip tape. All I need now is the removable turnbuckle (read expensive) and then its back down to Doyles Sails for a #4 battened Heavy Weather Jib to maximise my rating when I finally get RW measured and weighed for IRC.

The Solent Stay is used when the wind strength increases and a furled genoa can no longer hold shape without the possibility of damage. RW has a 135% Genoa, equivalent to a #2 headsail. The Solent Stay  connects to the strengthened deck fitting about a metre behind the forestay and is easily tensioned on its turnbuckle prior to hoisting the Heavy Weather Jib or Storm Jib. I will also be installing separate sheeting tracks to ensure the sheet lead is spot on.

Sigma 36 video

Well I have to say Decky Daz has stitched together one outstanding video clip of Rogue Wave! The GoPro Hero cameras certainly deliver excellent quality images and the young fella has a knack of filming without the feeling of cameras shoved in your face.

Great job Daz, look forward to punching out offshore and juicing up the shots with some white or green liquid over the bow!

Check out the clip here Sigma 36 video

Solo Trans Tasman 2014

The Solo Trans Tasman Yacht Race http://www.solo-tasman.co.nz/history/ is a 1380 NM race across the Tasman Sea and is held every four years between New Plymouth on New Zealands North Island and Mooloolaba in Queensland Australia. The Catergory 1 race foundations were laid in the late 1960's and were based upon the famous Observer Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic Race (OSTAR) format. The quickest race was just over 6 days in a racing trimaran and the slowest a very long 35 days in a 5.8 m ferro yacht. My goal is to complete the race in under 10 days.
I submitted my entry as an expression of interest late last year after observing how quickly the 2010 race positions filled. Yesterday I received an email from the organisers and they advised my entry has been received along with 14 other skippers - the number of yachts is limited to around 15 yachts, as Port Taranaki is very small. I happily confirmed I am still a starter and will be putting down my race entry deposit to secure my provisional entry position. Exciting times!

Rogue Wave trailer

Decky Daz Productions 

Worth the effort

The sweat and tears of the past 5 weeks working on RW seem but a distant memory now we have had some wind in her sails. Daz, Dani, Marty and Deb crewed on Sat for a short social sail to settle the rigging so I could do my final adjustments. With a toggle on the forestay I made a 200mm reduction in mast rake and she appeared quite well balanced, although a bit more breeze would have given me a better indication.

Insurance is all sorted on the public liability front and I now have full race coverage. Just need to arrange the safety equipment audit,  submit the proforma along with the insurance certificate and race entry form....then we are in business. Only took a year and a bit, but she looks fantastic!

Back on the water

RW re-launched on today's high water. We managed to creep out of Oyster Cove with the depth alarm screaming its head off for about 30 mins until we cleared the very narrow channel. Hopefully all my antifoul is still on the keel!! 

The new PSS prop shaft seal gave off a bit off carbon dust whilst bedding in as it should, but after that she ran nice and dry. I was a little sceptical when the PSS seal kit arrived as the gator looked a little light duty, yet when I finally aligned the gator on the stern tube and compressed the SS shaft ring onto the carbon seal face, the gator firmed up nicely.

The re-pitch of the prop blades appears to be just about spot on, but I will do some more testing during slack water  in the next few weeks.

All my keel bolts have been cut from lengths of 316 M24 threaded rod and new 316 square washers painstakingly cut out of plate. My faithful old B&D angle grinder never fails me even after many, many years of torture! I have fitted the front 2 of 15 keel bolts as these were a pain to remove and I wanted to ensure the replacements didn't 'poke' their nose out the lower edge of the keel flange. The remaining bolts I can replace one at a time on the mooring before I paint the bilge. Then she should be good for another 50 years.  RW now sports two coats of blue Jotun Seaguardian and a boot top of Norglass Weatherfast Admiralty Blue.

I still need to setup the mast rake and adjust the rig tension, run some sheets and control lines and refit the masthead gear, but to do that I preferably need a windless morning in the marina. May look at spending the weekend at Nelson Bay Marina. I also need to fit the mainsail before I can drill and tap the bolt holes for the Selden Rodkicker as the weight of the sail will impact on the position.

The Insurance Survey has been completed with only a handful of things to repair or modify......most were on my list already or in work. Despite working 12-14 hour days non-stop for the past month, I have kicked quite a few of my bucket list jobs.....unfortunately its the ones you don't know about that eat into the schedule and wallet!! Hell, its only money.....(sorry kids!).

Heading home!