(Mis)Adventures with a new Genoa

JBlumhorst@aol.com
Mon, 8 Nov 1999 02:08:03 EST


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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HI Webgang,

Yesterday was the first time we ever flew our new 150% genoa. We never had
such a large sail before. It's a danged tent compared to our other sails.

In retrospect, maybe a race wasn't the best time to try it, but I'm the kind
of person who just can't leave a new toy unused.
So, ignoring the wise counsel of my hubby/firstmate, I rigged our crispy new
genoa for the SCA Cruiser Challenge.

Our first four tacks were a disaster. We didn't make it through the tack. If
you don't get the genny through the foretriangle quickly, it gets caught on
the mast and backwinds. Oops. One particluar tack was so bad that I though we
were going to do a 360 the wrong direction. Ooops. How embarrassing :^ (
especially in the middle of a race.

On our second or third tack, I really stuck her in irons. The only way I
could get her out was to backwind the jib and the main, throw the tiller over
the "wrong" way and back her around. My husband looked at me like I was crazy
and asked me what I was doing. I said I was going to back her up to get her
out of irons. Certain that I was losing my mind, he asked incredulously
"you're going to sail backwards in the middle of a race?!!"

Yessiree folks, there I was, sailing backwards during a race. :-) During the
first few minutes of the race, we passed the same boats three or four times.
Funny how that can happen when you sail backwards or put yourself in irons by
wrapping three feet of the genny around the mast.

By the 10th tack or so, we had figured out that we had to release the working
sheet much earlier than we do on our smaller headsails and pull the new
working sheet much faster. After a few successfull tacks, David decided to go
below to be ballast up in the front of the boat and let me tack it alone, now
that we had figured out how to do it. At 195 pounds, he makes much better
ballast than I do at about 105 pounds.

On my first solo tack with the genoa, I released the working sheet and
started furiously trimming the new working sheet as the boat came through the
wind. As the genny bit into the wind and filled, it yanked all 105 pounds of
me off my feet and I flew through the air -- and I let out a loud scream of
surprise.

Alerted by the highest pitched note he's ever heard me "sing", my husband
lunged from the cabin and caught me by the back of my belt as I flashed past
the companionway, thereby saving my butt (quite literally).

After we stopped laughing, we both agreed that he should trim from then on,
at least until I get the winches installed.

Downwind, the ring for the wisker pole was way too high up for the
decksweeping clew of the genny, so I asked my hubby to stand in the
companionway and hold the pole. He liked that about as much as the day the
vang broke and I asked him to hang on the boom and be a human boom vang.

I love my hubby... he is so good humored about the weird things I ask him to
do sailing. He actually sat there and held the pole until his arms just about
fell off. Then he drove for a while so I could go forward and jury rig some
line to use as a pole ring.

The genoa is really cool, and I think we're going to love sailing it. But the
first day was pretty funny.

Fair winds, Judy B