Tag: rigging

Afloat for the new season

Molly has been ashore for the winter, giving me a chance to more easily carry out some maintenance. When people ask me if I had much to do, I’d reply that I didn’t, but I kept a list and it seems pretty long in hindsight. Most of it was normal maintenance but a couple of things were significant- I have fixed the holding tank pump and I also stripped the spars back to bare wood and varnished them to match the mast, restored last winter.

Molly spent the winter with mast down, sporting a mast cover which Niki made, so was well protected from the elements. The varnish stood up well during a very active sailing season last year and only needed touching up in a couple of places. Raising the mast went very smoothly – it was certainly easier doing this whilst ashore, rather than afloat!

With Molly on her new berth for this season, I spent a day cleaning the topsides and bending the sails back on. To my relief, I had not made any mistakes in my preparation and all went remarkably easily, except for dropping a main sheet shackle in the drink!

Hanging a spanner from the pennant halyard to check mast rake (as nearly vertical as possible)

Easter Monday saw Niki and I take Molly out for a shake down sail. We popped out into the Solent and beat out to the Spitbank Fort on first reef before running back into harbour and sailing up to Fareham, trying second reef and both jibs. To our amazement, all the rigging had been assembled correctly (or at least the same as last year).

Obligatory “first sail of the season” photo. First reef not looking especially tidy.

The only exception was perhaps a change needed to the arrangement of the reefing lines. We also had a chance to practice man overboard drills. Fred Fender was quite happy to be the victim for this task and was successfully retrieved on multiple occasions – we’re not expecting to lose any crew, but thought we’d better practice, ahead of our forthcoming ICC assessment.

Scrambled eggs for brunch in the cockpit

Winter jobs completed

Y Make mast crutches x2

Y Service then winterise engine (oil, filter, impeller, fuel filter, gearbox oil)

Y Fix holding tank pump

Y Clean undersides, sand copper coat

Y Lower rudder bolts

Y Check centre plate wire

Y Check prop shaft for play

Y Check/Replace anodes

Y Lube prop

Y Make mast cover

Y Strip and varnish spars

Y Repair spray hood

Y Fit suppressor to VHF – suppressor fitted

Y Chart locker

Y Water tank lid seal

Y Fit pictures and OGA plate in saloon

Y Change water filter+improve plumbing to cure small leak

Y fix Eberspacher

Y Main sail rings in reef points

Hibernation time

Having been afloat for eighteen months, it was time for Molly to be hauled out. To protect the mast from the elements and enable maintenance of the wood and rigging, I dropped the mast. This is quite a straightforward process and uses elements of the existing rigging.

Having removed the sails, boom and gaff, I attached the mainsheet between the end of the bowsprit and the jib halyard. I rigged the bowsprit just forward of vertical and led the tail of the main sheet back to a winch. This gives a lot of purchase, and little force is required to ease the mast to horizontal. I made a wooden A-frame to support the mast at the stern and the mast dropped easily onto this. The rigged mast is heavy though, and it took three of us to ease the mast forward, so that the foot is near the bow, which reduces the overhang at the stern.

The haul out at our club is a meticulously organised process and Molly was tucked in among the other boats – you can see from the photos why it is not possible to raise or lower the mast once she is parked!

Stepping the mast

The fully refurbished mast is ready for stepping! Sporting glossy new varnish, rot fixed and anchor light replaced, it looked absolutely lovely. I had decided that rather than having the mast delivered to the club, I would take Molly to the mast and have a winter weekend away. I had been watching the weather leading up to the proposed date and was delighted to be treated to calm and settled conditions, even sun!

So it was. I slipped the moorings in Gosport and motored out into the Solent, through the dolphin, past Langstone and made Chichester bar beacon in good time across a waveless sea and warm sun. The warmth turned out to be due to the lack of wind; I had been motoring downwind, so the apparent wind was almost nil – as soon as I turned up into Chichester, I noticed the bite even though the breeze was not strong.

Motoring out of Portsmouth. Andy “the arm” Autohelm was sporting a new rain cover freshly made by Niki. Not really needed on this occasion but very smart!

My destination was Emsworth marina, reached by a tidal channel and crossing a cill. Without the moorings to guide, the channel was harder to follow, but I soon slid into my assigned berth.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon dressing the mast ready for stepping the next day. This took quite some time – the “knitting” needed unravelling and laying out neatly and I wanted to make sure the job was done right, as it would be massively inconvenient to discover a mistake after the mast was raised.

I completed the task in good time, before taking an early evening walk into the town of Emsworth – very picturesque but not much to see in the dark. I made a mental note to come back in the summer with Niki. Returning to Molly, I was heartily glad of the heating system as the clear day gave way to a cold night.

The following morning, I was greeted by the yard manager who was ready first thing to step the mast, so I chugged over to the crane quay and the mast was very efficiently stood in its proper position. I then had the rest of the day to rig the sails and spars, a task which I completed just after high tide in the early afternoon, with only a few mistakes and “replays”. The task always takes longer than expected!

Emsworth is a lovely place. It’s very peaceful and there is a lot of wildlife around. I especially love the coots with their comedy party hooter calls. However, there is an ever present rumble of traffic from the nearby main road, which the brain quickly tunes out but is always evident whenever I shot a film clip. The water is also very active and it feels like being moored in a river when the water pours in or out over the two cills.

On the falling tide, water rushing over the cill. It created quite a strong current on my berth.

I made my farewell to the boatyard, and as I motored out, Nick the shipwright noticed that I had left my GoPro bolted to a post on the pontoon and grabbing it, dashed onto the last boat and handed it to me as I passed by. Phew!

Nick ready to hand me my camera back, as I passed

I had Chichester harbour almost to myself, with one or two motor boats and a lone racing dinghy being all I encountered in what is usually a very busy stretch of water. I made for my favoured anchorage at Pilsey Island near Itchenor.

Once securely anchored, I completed the final rigging task, that of bending on the main sail. I had envisioned sitting head to wind at anchor and therefore attaching the main sail would be a breeze. However, I had not taken the tide into account and Molly Sat broadside on to the wind, which made my task much more interesting! Nevertheless, I completed just as the sun made a spectacular sunset. This is always a marvellous place to spend the evening, but was particularly magical tonight as the wind stilled and the sky was filled with pastel colours with the sounds of the wading birds drifting across the waters. I retired to bed after a welcome hot chilli I had brought with, happy that Molly was complete again and ready for the new season.