Another Few Days to Practice Stuff

We did another Quijote practice cruise last week, had some fun and learned a few things. Kay, Tina, Kevin and I headed out into Puget sound through the locks on Wednesday and spent the day working with the sails to get procedures ironed out.  I especially wanted to confirm that the new custom sail bag I ordered was a good size for both storm jib and storm trisail.  The bags are designed to be tied to the deck and the sail can then be hoisted out of or folded directly into the bag.  Having sails readily available on deck makes it much more likely that they will be used when needed, rather than have to haul bags up from under the v-berth.  The bags worked well and each sail fits nicely, so I went ahead and ordered a second bag after we got back.

Wednesday was a blustery day; it was nice to get some sailing in. Since the wind was from the south, we tied up to one of the mooring balls on the north shore of Blake Island.  The thinking at the time was that the island might give us some protection from wind and waves. It may have, but it was still a pretty unsettled night, shipping and ferries adding to the watery mayhem. 

In the morning we inflated the dinghy and motored ashore for some exercise, then motored up Rich Passage, into Port Orchard and on to Liberty Bay. We then practiced setting a stern anchor using the aft bow roller for the first time.  We found that controlling the rhode while paying it out is a lot of work and is best done with leather gloves. We used 40’ of chain and 120’ of 3/4” braided anchor line shackled together.  We tied another 200’ length of 3/8” double-braid to the end of the rhode to allow us to plant the forward anchor farther forward.  Then backing up, we let out forward anchor and brought in stern anchor until the 3/8” line was back on board.  At that point we had a good 4:1 scope in 30’ of water for both anchors.  Splendid!  Next time we’ll start with the bow anchor and use the dinghy to set the stern anchor.

Before dinner (Tina’s Brie and Sun Dried Tomato Pasta) we used the dinghy to practice pulling a person overboard (MOB) up out of the water and onto the deck.  We were able to do the job pretty well using the halyard winch on the side of the mast if it was a light MOB or a strong winch cranker, but a small woman trying to haul a large man up onto deck was hopeless.  Thankfully we discovered that the outboard engine hoist was perfectly suited to the job. We disconnected the pulley from the hoist and reconnected it to the halyard and the bottom of the pulley to the MOB harness. Then we ran the tail of the pulley through the jib car to the deck winch.  the combined mechanical advantage of the pulley and the winch made it much easier for light women to pull a heavy guy out of the water and the components were all conveniently at hand.

We spent the night in Liberty Bay and the following morning we did some circles around Liberty Bay to get the hang of the Life-Sling. It was fortunate we did as we quickly discovered that the line snarled into a rats nest after twelve years of inactivity.  I have since purchased a replacement life sling, but it will be well worth trying it again to make sure the line pays out properly.