Check out this Hobie Beach image:
a nice breeze, a bit of sun, and a downwind run! (Luna Log entry)
Image by Dale Simonson
Luna’s 8th outing, this one with Chris on English Bay. Here’s the log entry:
———(Luna Log, entry 8)———-
Sun, June 22, 2014
– Vanier Park launch, English Bay
– Chris and I
– started loading 10:00 or so, while Chris prepped ribs for dinner and packed a lunch for us
– left house about 11:30
– launched 12:30, tide about 2m, on the flood (Pt Atkinson)
– 8-10 knt Westerly in the bay at launch, but lighter in the creek mouth
Very busy at the ramp, a Compact 16 didn’t have enough water to launch, said he’d try it again in an hour. Chris took the bow painter over to the float, I backed Luna in, hit the brakes, and she slid right off. Chris pulled her over to the float, didn’t even get her feet wet!
Current running quite strong into False Creek (seemed like 3 or 4 knots?), we short-tacked up-wind and up-current through a ton of traffic, timing our tacks to weave through all the boats coming and going. We didn’t make much progress on the first tack, swept sideways by current, but the tack back was ahead of starting point, another tack across and we had clawed 50 yards up the channel, back again and we had made some more progress, one more tack across gave us a good angle to tack once more and clear the point. More current on the near side, it seems. Couldn’t have done it with much less wind.
Wind picked up as we got clear, good sets of whitecaps now, I’d guess 12 to 14 knots with gusts a bit more? Wanted to get a reef in, but also wanted a bit more sea room, so hung on for a while, tacked back towards English Bay Beach, then back again through all the anchored boats off Kits Point. One more tack bought us enough room to drop the sail and tie in a reef. I’m still using a snap-shackle at the clew, it’s a bit of a struggle to get it undone and attached to the next cringle up, but with the sail down it wasn’t scary or anything, just not very fast. Should’ve tied the aft nettles at same time, they’re too hard to get in once underway again. Lazy jack was on wrong side of yard on hoist, need to sort out a better method, learn how to do this, or change up my temporary lazy jack system! Grrr…
Settled in for a nice beat out to Royal Van Yacht Club, many other sailboats out, crossing tacks, comparing angles, etc. We couldn’t point as high as a J35 that blasted pass us with a big jenny up and about 10 people on the rail, but we weren’t much lower than them, maybe 2 degrees? (But we sure were a lot slower! They said "love your boat!" as they passed about 15′ to leeward and quickly clawed above us, as we sat in their dirt.)
There was a lot of chop from all that Sunday boat traffic (very many power cruisers throwing up wakes like mountains), which, combined with the long fetch off Georgia Straight, built into nasty confused seas as the afternoon progressed. But Luna took it all in her stride, and felt very comfortable with one reef in. Really good control, went to weather smartly, we could easily match the angle of a San Juan 24 that we crossed several times, we didn’t have anywhere near her speed but I was very pleased to see that we could point just as well.
And, she "parks" so nicely! Just ease the sheet and let go of the tiller, she instantly and calmly relaxes like an upright little duck, bobbing in the waves, comfy and secure. We got our lunch out and watched all the Hobie Cats and Tornados blasting around, while we slowly drifted through the freighters. Chris got a bit freaked by a few huge confused waves, so I sheeted in a bit, got some way on and bore off on a wild broad reach through the "big seas" (maybe six feet high at times?), while we finished our cheese and crackers. Chris couldn’t believe how my can of IPA sat in the forward corner of the bench, up against the bulkhead and combing, never moving through all the crazy rollers and swell.
Several long reaches, gybing along the shorelines, looking at all the mansions and people, chatting about life, the time went by too quickly. Running back into the Creek entrance, joining the parade of returning vessels, fielding admiring remarks and exclamations of "no motor?", and we were back at the ramp at about 6:00 pm. That Compact 16 was back and we compared notes as we both hauled out, they bought it in ‘Frisco for cheap, it’s their first season too, their cabin is "pretty cramped", and they thought the Scamp was very cool.
Home about 7, I washed down Luna while Chris made salad and put the ribs on. What a wonderful day! We learned a lot, and we both built confidence in the boat, ourselves, and each other.
Here’s to many more!
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