Exploring

We managed to get out for a few day sails since we took the boat to Baltimore, mainly in and around Roaring water bay, taking different routes to suit the wind and Teals draft and seeing what kind of milage we could realistically do in different conditions. We didn't get to go on shore on any of the islands this time round because I need to finish the dinghy.
I did finally get Jess out for her first time sailing and in the evening we picked up our kids and motored out to Sherkin Island for a night on-board, the kids are young so we weren't sure how they would take it but all in all it went well.
In the morning I swapped Jess and the kids for Ken and his sister in-law Grainne, We were considering a trip to the fasnet but with light westerlys forecast returning to Union Hall seemed to make more sense.
We had a lovely sail back, calm, roasting hot, and just enough of a breeze to keep us moving although at one stage we did get becalmed and spun around in a small tidal eddy just East of Toehead which we had to motor out of.
Grainne and I decided to have a go at jumping overboard and swimming along side, Apparently I can just about sprint at 2.5kts so I clambered back on board, Grainne had to good sense to hold a rope. Then looking for other ways to pass the time we had a go at setting the topsail, we don't have a sheet set up so we had to drop the main and tie the topsail outhall to the gaff which meant it wouldn't set quite right but it definitely gave a noticeable speed increase. Our final little accomplishment was to get her on to her mooring under full sail, topsail included but we had plenty hands to make light work of it.
Now the plan is to catch up on some varnishing and some other TLC before the next little adventure.

Ken cleaned the rust marks off the Genoa with oxalic acid and it came out lovely, Time for the rest to get the same treatment.

 

Night Sailing

The weather is beautiful here at the moment so we're going to get sailing every chance we get. I came in from a charter yesterday evening and set straight about preparing Teal to go back out. We sailed out around 7.30pm and made it a few miles south of the harbour before the wind died.
We drifted on the tide for most of the night, through the Stags sound and West almost to the Kedge Islands before picking up a breeze around 5am. We carried on West of Sherkin and flew through the Cascanane sound into roaring water bay with a Minke whale for very close company. After breakfast and few hours sleep anchored in Carthy Sound we made our way round Heir Island and back into Baltimore harbour. Hopefully this weather will last and we will get as much sailing as possible in.

This was our first night sail. The wind was suppose to be 4 to 8 knots veering from SE all the way round to NE but as it turned out there was none and when it did reappear it was Southerly. There was a full moon but pretty much complete cloud cover, so we had light enough to see the coast and the odd glimpse of a following porpoise.

Apple Pie

So I have a hard dinghy that gets me in and out to the boats just fine but is too big to take anywhere

with Teal and we detest the inflatable so when I was ordering the ply and fiberglass for the work on my other boat I also ordered ply and epoxy to build an Apple Pie dinghy.

I've never built a stitch and glue boat so its a bit of a change from working on something like Teal.

The Apple Pie is a 7' x 3'6" pram dinghy, Just about big enough for two adults at a shove. The plans are free on http://intheboatshed.net/free-boat-plans-at-intheboatshednet/  although after trying to fit the bits together I realised that the offsets for the floor where wrong and that updated plans are also available on line, the result is the bottom of my dinghy is now 3 inches narrower but its too late to change it. I just assumed the transom measurements were wrong and not the numerous bottom measurements so I just narrowed the transoms (wrong) . I'm hoping the dinghy might be small enough to fit on Teals coachroof if we really don't want to tow it.

I cut out the ply and stitched it with cable ties, it took probably 6 hours to mark,cut, stitch and fillet it. The design certainly doesn't get the most out of your ply sheets and you could definitely make a larger boat with the same amount. I filleted the seams with thickened epoxy and sheathed the inside with 195gsm woven rovings and epoxy. Sanding the fillets and sheathing the inside took around 3 hours. I now need to buy more epoxy before I can go much further, but I can go ahead and cut the seat bulkhead and prep the exterior for sheathing.

Pics from Baltimore

Photos by Tim Cooke http://ilur.tumblr.com/

When we bought Teal and I eventually unrolled the mainsail from the boom, it had 'For Sale' stuck on it with some kind of tape, I removed it straight away but unfortunately it has ruined the sail. We are planning on getting a new suite but these are still pretty good working sails so its a bit unfortunate.

Teal is riding out her first bit of bad weather on her mooring with the last few days as a force 7 South-easterly blows through. There was a lot of rain on Thursday night and seeming as or cockpit cover has never materialised I went to check on her today, The sole-boards were just beginning to float. I checked the float switch was up which it was but then had to switch the pump on manually. With the bilge empty I operated the float switch a few times and it started working again which is a bit strange so that wants looking at. Apart from the rain she is staying perfectly dry. I'm still getting a few little interior bits ready at home because the lockers are badly needed.

Proper sea trials

We took Teal out today for her first proper test at sea. We sailed out about 6 miles South of Glandore and back into Castletownshend for lunch, then back down through the sound following some Minke whales and back into Union Hall. The wind was top of a force 4 WSW so we had a great shake down, She sailed at a very consistent 5.5 to 6 knots and is very confidence inspiring, She carries way very well and sits firmly with her rail 6 inches out of the water. Compared to Ken's old boat she's another world. 

We're all thoroughly impressed by her.

We need to sort out our headsail sheets because they are too short and a constant source of aggravation and we could badly do with the lockers finishing off so we can securely stow stuff away. Other than that all is well. 

I uploaded some videos on to youtube because the blogger video thing is rubbish.  

http://youtu.be/RtzRkIkh4BU   This one was on our way from Baltimore last week, Very calm

           http://youtu.be/tgJ5Q7MJ-Sk   These 2 are from today.

           http://youtu.be/ZijJF5G6gK8