projects:sailing:blog:7_moreton_bay
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| projects:sailing:blog:7_moreton_bay [2024/01/21 03:39] – tjhowse | projects:sailing:blog:7_moreton_bay [2024/02/01 04:04] (current) – tjhowse | ||
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| ===== Marine Assist ===== | ===== Marine Assist ===== | ||
| - | Volunteer Marine Rescue is an amazing institution. People who donate their time, effort and money to help make our waterways a safer place. If you get into a pickle they can send out a team to fish you out of the water and maybe tow your boat back to shore. They accept donations, but I figured it would be best to formalise the relationship by signing up for a marine assist service. This provides them a regular | + | Volunteer Marine Rescue is an amazing institution. People who donate their time, effort and money to help make our waterways a safer place. If you get into a pickle they can send out a team to fish you out of the water and maybe tow your boat back to shore. They accept donations, but I figured it would be best to formalise the relationship by signing up for a marine assist service. This provides them a stream of income, $80 annually in our case, for our peace of mind. This also gives us access to their " |
| I don't really have a feel for what constitutes a call-worthy mishap. I expect we'll know it when we see it. You don't need a policy for VMR to respond to your emergency, but relying on them for our safety without giving something in return feels… inconsiderate. Hopefully we'll never have to call them up. | I don't really have a feel for what constitutes a call-worthy mishap. I expect we'll know it when we see it. You don't need a policy for VMR to respond to your emergency, but relying on them for our safety without giving something in return feels… inconsiderate. Hopefully we'll never have to call them up. | ||
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| Before too long Michelle lost her hat again. Fortunately we'd just had another encounter with the sandbar so I was able to wade over and pick it up. Michelle also hopped off the boat. Losing the weight of two adults was enough to float the boat again and start it merilly sailing itself back towards the channel with Alex and Sam onboard. There was some focussed panic as I splashed back to the boat. Luckily it was slowed by Michelle being dragged along behind. We got back onboard and I steered us back around onto the sandbar for a breather and to answer the call of nature. | Before too long Michelle lost her hat again. Fortunately we'd just had another encounter with the sandbar so I was able to wade over and pick it up. Michelle also hopped off the boat. Losing the weight of two adults was enough to float the boat again and start it merilly sailing itself back towards the channel with Alex and Sam onboard. There was some focussed panic as I splashed back to the boat. Luckily it was slowed by Michelle being dragged along behind. We got back onboard and I steered us back around onto the sandbar for a breather and to answer the call of nature. | ||
| - | During these events I became aware of a buzz in the air. I initially thought it was the wind through our rigging, but soon the kids were shouting "Look! A drone! A drone!" | + | During these events I became aware of a buzz in the air. I initially thought it was the wind through our rigging, but soon the kids were shouting "Look! A drone! A drone!" |
| It was around this point we noticed our mainsail had a problem. It has a boltrope sewn into the bottom edge (foot), and this is supposed to tuck into a slot in the boom. About half the foot of the mainsail had pulled out of this slot and the trailing corner (clew) was flapping in the breeze, only held on by the rope that pulls the foot of the mainsail tight (the outhaul). It seems there had been enough force on the sail at one point, probably during a gybe, to pop it out. I suspect this was caused by inexpert rigging. I had re-done the outhaul at some point to make it tighter, but neglected to loop it around the boom to tie the clew securely down to the boom. We'd been on the water for a couple hours by this point so we decided to call it a day. | It was around this point we noticed our mainsail had a problem. It has a boltrope sewn into the bottom edge (foot), and this is supposed to tuck into a slot in the boom. About half the foot of the mainsail had pulled out of this slot and the trailing corner (clew) was flapping in the breeze, only held on by the rope that pulls the foot of the mainsail tight (the outhaul). It seems there had been enough force on the sail at one point, probably during a gybe, to pop it out. I suspect this was caused by inexpert rigging. I had re-done the outhaul at some point to make it tighter, but neglected to loop it around the boom to tie the clew securely down to the boom. We'd been on the water for a couple hours by this point so we decided to call it a day. | ||
| - | We pointed back towards the channel and I searched the traffic for a spot to slip in. A sailboat downwind of another sailboat has right of way, and a sailboat has right of way over a motorboat, but you can never be certain of other boaters' | + | We pointed back towards the channel and I searched the traffic for a spot to slip in. A sailboat downwind of another sailboat has right of way, and a sailboat has right of way over a motorboat, but you can never be certain of other boaters' |
| Our main lessons learned today: Never try to sail without both sails, make sure the clew of the mainsail is tied to the boom properly, and scan the skies before doing a wee in the ocean. | Our main lessons learned today: Never try to sail without both sails, make sure the clew of the mainsail is tied to the boom properly, and scan the skies before doing a wee in the ocean. | ||
projects/sailing/blog/7_moreton_bay.1705808370.txt.gz · Last modified: 2024/01/21 03:39 by tjhowse