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I had a mechanic service the diesel a week or so ago. There may be some follow-up work for him as the oil pressure alarm beeped today.

After much waiting, I’ve finally found an 18-foot spinnaker pole, which I can use as a whisker pole to pole out the jib when running downwind. Because of the load it will create on the mast, I had the mast beefed up and a Forespar fitting installed. Today I was able to test this setup with good success.

Toggle pin fitting

I used three lines on the pole (topping lift, foreguy, afterguy), which allows me to control the jib separately from the pole. To hoist the jib, I first fed the foot through the outboard pole end, then hoisted the jib. This worked to windward and to leeward in <10 kts. The same process in reverse is used to drop the jib.

Wing on wing!

To get the mainsail to set correctly I used a jibe preventer, which allowed me to pull the boom down and the sail away from chafing on the spreaders.

The mainsheet is eased out and the “jibe preventer” is doing the work.

No restart this year

In late August I was abruptly laid off and I considered leaving for the second attempt in October. I removed most everything from the boat and gave her a good cleaning. But then one of the companies I was interviewing for made me a good offer. I’m starting a new job in early October. I think it’ll be good as everything checks out.

All in all, maybe October 2024 will be the year, maybe with the Pacific Cup 2024 as the shake-down cruise. My adventure juices had started flowing again but it’ll be for another day.

Author: Skipper

Wannabe circumnavigator. http://pjsails.com/a-skipper-looking-for-adventure/

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