Under Sail Again

Well, not sure we’ll still be able to point to 30 degrees apparent but we do at least have some propulsion now. We’re heading in the right direction, the speed is disappointing but there’s not so much wind either although it’s due to pick up tonight. I’ve worked right through since about 0630 with only the pause for the earlier e mail, a cup of tea and weather downloading. Just had the last of the bacon with some eggs and toast. , it’s 1700 and I was as hungry as a cyclist.

Putting the Trisail (the storm sail which would normally replace the mainsail) up was initially a waste of time because it’s not cut as a foresail and looked like a bag of washing, which is why it’s ended up, upside down, it’s not one of my mistakes like I’ve made with the spinnaker in the past!

I’m fairly pleased with the boom as a mast, all of the stays, apart from the two backstays are doubled, so I can move the chafing point. There wasn’t room to put the backstay on to the alloy fitting on the end of the boom so that is secured above 3 sliders all, hopefully, secure, with a clove hitch. I’ve put in split backstays because I’m wondering about a gunter set up for the next sail. The other sail which I have which is small is the storm jib but it’s much longer in the luff than the boom, 5.60 as opposed to 3.40 I’m still thinking about whether I can try to rig that, even in lighter winds, I think I may be able to, I have a plan but don’t want to damage anything that I’ve already got up and running.

It’s been not too windy a day since about 1000 but the motion without the mast is quite fast and very uncomfortable, I’ve been swearing a bit too much but no one much else to be offended by it.

A pair of Common Terns came by for a bit this afternoon. They’re quite attractive.

Now something you can help me with. The things that I’ve been seeing which I had thought were Portuguese Men of War, aren’t. I think that they’re some kind of egg / spawn . They are about the size of a balloon a few days after it was initially blown up, pretty transparent but with a mauve tinge to them. They look as if they’ve been blown up. They float, obviously on the surface and have three or four parallel marks on them at a squinty kind of an angle. They are shaped a bit like the Glasgow Transport Museum, sort of curved on top but not hemispherical, more like a slice from a rugby ball along it’s longer axis. Anyway I can’t google it so maybe someone knows what they are.