Sea Trial, New Lazy Jacks, Self-Steering Problem

Monitor Self-Steering Wind Vane

We have a short delay due to problems found on a sea trial we took on Sunday. The good news: the sails, rig, and engine performed wonderfully. The bad news: we could not get the self-steering to work. On a passage of this length, the wind vane self-steering gear is absolutely essential. When it works, it is brilliant - using only the wind as its energy source, it senses the wind as it comes over the boat, and connects to the tiller, steering the boat on a course we select.

It is not the easiest piece of gear to use on the boat, and we suspect the problem has to do with the gears not meshing properly, and also user error. After all, it has been several years since we have used it.

Rigger Gijs Installing Lazy Jacks

 Last week, we had the local rigger out to our boat to install a system of lines running up the mast called Lazy Jacks. It holds the mainsail in place when we are raising or lowering sails until we can put sail ties around it. It is known as "taming the main sail", and is worth its weight in gold during a sudden squall. That's when we want to drop the mainsail quickly to depower the boat to ride out a storm. In any but the lightest of breezes, the sail can be a handful for the one person on deck making sail changes. We tested it out on Sunday, and it's great to have.

Up the mast with a drill to install the blocks and line

Another pair of boat shoes bites the dust - they've served me well