Last thing on the list... break it
I had a scrappy piece of paper with my final "get it on the water" checklist and Vida added her own item....
I'd always joked with the kids that Farrout would get broken and repaired many times, partly just to get them used to the idea that this was fine (like capsizing, or falling off your bike).
Anyway....
To work off some Jetlag I took Farrout for a lovely winters day sail. By the time I got on the water the wind had died down a bit from it's midday peak but it was still strong enough to have us skipping across the harbor.
First things first I needed to do was test some of the changes I'd made.
Improvements to rigging setup: Great! Fast setup of shrouds, quick attachment of rudder, boat breaker line just the right length. Took 20 minutes to rig and next time will be quicker as it's tuned already!
New Zhik sea boots: Comfy, but not the extra grip I was hoping for. Going to have to extend the foot rests higher to get better purchase I think.
New Zhik performance lifevest: Great, no more snagging trying to get under the boom!
New control line setup: Great. The only things I noticed were either known or part of tweaking. The vang control line is too short and I found in the stronger breeze the top cascade is too short meaning I can't ease the vang as much as I'd like.
As I worked back and forth in the empty (this was a Monday afternoon) harbor the breeze started to build - nothing too dramatic but half trapping fairly frequently and getting up on a plane here and there both up and downwind.
I started pushing out across the harbor mouth and running back with the waves giving a decent push. Each time I came back the wind had increased a bit.
The boat behaved amazingly! It caught each wave with gusto and feels like a big surfboard. Only one bearaway caused me any issues when I tacked slowly and bore away before I'd built up enough speed. Once I released pressure on the mainsheet speed quickly came on enough to finish the maneuver.
Speeds were getting up into the double digits and I was having sooo much fun but the day was ending and it was time to go home....
Just one more surf...
As I bore away there was a bit of a crack from the back of the boat. I was concentrating on catching a wave and pushed it to the back of my mind Caught the wave, water spraying everywhere, move weight back to keep nose up in the trough, start looking at the wave in front to see if there's a route past nearby and....
CRACK...
The tiller goes floppy.
Look back and the rudder is trailing behind.
Half drop the sail and see if I can get the boat heading the right way without a rudder. Fail. I need to practice this I guess as it's a useful trick in situations like this.
Boats a bit out of control in the channel so I drop the main all the way and hail the harbor police.
While waiting for them and drifting towards the harbor wall I take out the dagger board and try to get some control. I can get the nose pointing downwind but that's no help only the marine base lies that way. Eventually I decide to just minimize drift and wait for rescue.
The police get me 50yds short of landing on the base.
Turns out a Farr 3.7 tows pretty well.
This is what my rudder looked like - obvious design flaw making a big weak spot..
Initially I thought that I'd build a whole new rudder but by the time I woke the next day I decided it would be a lot easier to rebuild this one a lot faster.
Next post....
I'd always joked with the kids that Farrout would get broken and repaired many times, partly just to get them used to the idea that this was fine (like capsizing, or falling off your bike).
Anyway....
To work off some Jetlag I took Farrout for a lovely winters day sail. By the time I got on the water the wind had died down a bit from it's midday peak but it was still strong enough to have us skipping across the harbor.
First things first I needed to do was test some of the changes I'd made.
Improvements to rigging setup: Great! Fast setup of shrouds, quick attachment of rudder, boat breaker line just the right length. Took 20 minutes to rig and next time will be quicker as it's tuned already!
New Zhik sea boots: Comfy, but not the extra grip I was hoping for. Going to have to extend the foot rests higher to get better purchase I think.
New Zhik performance lifevest: Great, no more snagging trying to get under the boom!
New control line setup: Great. The only things I noticed were either known or part of tweaking. The vang control line is too short and I found in the stronger breeze the top cascade is too short meaning I can't ease the vang as much as I'd like.
As I worked back and forth in the empty (this was a Monday afternoon) harbor the breeze started to build - nothing too dramatic but half trapping fairly frequently and getting up on a plane here and there both up and downwind.
I started pushing out across the harbor mouth and running back with the waves giving a decent push. Each time I came back the wind had increased a bit.
The boat behaved amazingly! It caught each wave with gusto and feels like a big surfboard. Only one bearaway caused me any issues when I tacked slowly and bore away before I'd built up enough speed. Once I released pressure on the mainsheet speed quickly came on enough to finish the maneuver.
Speeds were getting up into the double digits and I was having sooo much fun but the day was ending and it was time to go home....
Just one more surf...
As I bore away there was a bit of a crack from the back of the boat. I was concentrating on catching a wave and pushed it to the back of my mind Caught the wave, water spraying everywhere, move weight back to keep nose up in the trough, start looking at the wave in front to see if there's a route past nearby and....
CRACK...
The tiller goes floppy.
Look back and the rudder is trailing behind.
Half drop the sail and see if I can get the boat heading the right way without a rudder. Fail. I need to practice this I guess as it's a useful trick in situations like this.
Boats a bit out of control in the channel so I drop the main all the way and hail the harbor police.
While waiting for them and drifting towards the harbor wall I take out the dagger board and try to get some control. I can get the nose pointing downwind but that's no help only the marine base lies that way. Eventually I decide to just minimize drift and wait for rescue.
The police get me 50yds short of landing on the base.
Turns out a Farr 3.7 tows pretty well.
This is what my rudder looked like - obvious design flaw making a big weak spot..
Initially I thought that I'd build a whole new rudder but by the time I woke the next day I decided it would be a lot easier to rebuild this one a lot faster.
Next post....
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