1st Sept: Boom Cover and Planing Seafly

At the end of August I got an email to say that the boom cover and Scow jib that I had ordered from Sanders Sails in Lymington were ready. Not realising they would deliver to Shamrock Quay, I arranged to collect them on Tuesday 1st September after the late August Bank Holiday.  In any case I like Lymington, and after Sanders I visited St Barbe (although the present “Elmer and Mr Benn” exhibition did not tempt me beyond the cafe).

When I got home the tide was in and there was a brisk breeze so, deeming it too windy to mess around rigging the jib, I decided to have a sail.  I put on a wet suit and was pleased to find it had not “shrunk” and I could still get into it!  I think I was sailing most of the period 14:00 to 16:00 and the wind recorded at the jetty was force 3 but gusting to the top of force 4 and slighlty beyond. The Seafly was planing happily in the gusts.  

I dropped the mainsail and motored in to the jetty, making a mess of the first try and coming in backwards on the second, which worked well. An advantage of having the scow jib will be that I will have less need of the motor with its “backward” throttle control. Dropping the main and coming in under jib only will be a much more practical proposition.

During the sail I discovered that the mainsheet was difficult to hold without wrapping it around my hand, not a good idea in gusty conditions.  I have since changed it to a 4 to 1 purchase which is what I use for the Lightning and Seafly rigs.  I think the short mast leads me to under estimate the power of the scow mainsail.  It is very pleasing to know that it will make the boat plane.

After the sail I fitted the new boom cover and was very pleased with how it had been made.