Posted by lance_ryley (lance_ryley@…>)
Hi folks,
just got back from 2 weeks on Glory, and overall the trip was very
good. We had a few unexpected adventures, like the rock we ‘found’ in
Buzzards bay (just nicked a wing - no damage but a resounding “dong”
through the rig when we kissed), the anchor that dragged in Vineyard
Haven (anyone else using a Supermax - successfully?), and the
spinnaker wrap on Saturday coming back to Boston. In between the
adrenalin rushes were some excellent sailing days, some not so
excellent motor sailing days, and some very good times with my
parents, my in-laws, step-daughters, and random sailors we met along
the way (when our anchor dragged, we cut the anchor rode on a Sabre
40, yet somehow ended up having drinks with them the next day).
We saw a fair number of Freedoms in various places, including a rare
Freedom 45 Aft Cockpit in Block Island, a Freedom 40/40 and 44 CK in
Vineyard Sound, a lovely couple on “Grace,” a Hoyt 32 in Vineyard
Haven, and also what I think was a Fr38 in Vineyard Haven, though I
never got a chance to meet the owners. There was also an Alerion
Express regatta and a Nonsuch rendezvous in VH, and Mark Edwards was
there representing the True Norths, though I missed out on getting
together with him. I think I saw a Fr40 CK Cat Ketch making its way
up Vineyard Sound as well, though it was too far away to know for
sure. It was good to see so many of our old boats out there, with
people obviously enjoying themselves.
This is our first full season with Glory, and we’re definitely
learning some valuable lessons and making plans for some equipment
additions and upgrades for next year - most notably, a wind
generator. We’re looking at the Rutland designs, but will do more
research when the time comes to get serious.
The spinnaker wrap story was kind of interesting. We carry a North
cruising gennaker with a sock, and on Saturday coming up
Massachusetts Bay it was helping us keep in the mid 6’s to 7’s boat
speed, although not really paralleling the coast the way I would have
liked. every once in a while the chute would collapse, then snap back
to attention. Well, one time it collapsed, but didn’t snap back. I
waited 10 seconds, nothing, so I set the autopilot and went forward.
The chute was busily wrapping itself around the headstay, going
around it clockwise, over and over and over, twisting itself so
tightly I thought I could probably raise the jib over it… a real
mess. no amount of tugging on the tack or clew was releasing that
sail. I really had no idea what to do with it, and figured I might
have to sail in to boston harbor with it wrapped like a giant red
white and blue party favor… when… I noticed every single wrap was
going around clockwise. We needed to gybe anyway to make contact with
land, so…
…we gybed onto port and set a deep angle, and unbelievably, the
chute started unwrapping itself. As it got closer, my wife said, "can
we just drop it when it’s done. No arguments… and sure enough it
completed its unwrap and was on deck in less than 3 minutes. Weird,
explainable probably through 11th grade fluid dynamics, but still,
took a very frustrating experience and brought it back into
the “we’re having an excellent sail” realm.
Hope everyone is having a good summer!
Lance and Pam
“Glory”