Yesterday I sailed Changabang to Richmond, where she will get a couple aluminium brackets implanted on her stern. These will be used for the hydrogenerators. I am fairly excited about this because once that is in place, I’ll be ready to go out for a first “shakedown” cruise, with the hope of testing as much as I can.
The forecast for the sail up to Richmond called for 20 kts. But as usual it was +/- 10 kts, and this time it was “-“. Around 11 am noon, the wind picked up and started shifting so I hoisted the gennaker. We were heeled quite a bit (i.e. overpowered) when I noticed a rip in the foot of the sail. After I struggled a little to furl the sail back in (and learned something new in the process) we carried on with staysail and mainsail only thereafter, with the wind continuing to build up to 27 kts when I came under the Golden Gate Bridge. We were sailing against an ebb so progress wasn’t very fast. We did enjoy a few surfs, sometimes burrowing into the wave ahead. Top average GPS speed over ground was 12.8 kts (in 1.5 kts of adverse current I think at that time).
Once in the Bay I took the gennaker down, hoisted the code 0’ish and moved towards my destination. What else happened? We didn’t hit anything. I tried to prepare a hot chocolate. As the conditions were benign at the time I was not keeping a hand on the JetBoil; unfortunately a little wave came along, heeled us little more, and the top heavy setup spilled over me. Glad the water wasn’t much hot yet. Lesson learned: always boil with my hand holding that thing! I will also look into a gimballed setup. I did finish preparing that hot chocolate drink!
In Richmond I was welcomed with cookies by my friend Jackie, who also helped me home. We discussed the boat, the plans, and not the least the pharmacy kit aka “how to put Humpty Dumpty back together” box.
That’s all for now … Waiting …
Ah! The hot chocolate escapade sounds familiar!!! 😂
That brings back good memories of a wonderful trip up the Coast!