Captain's Log

September 30, 2002

Hello All,
 
Not quite sure where to begin......but lets start with a little project 25 feet off the deck I just finished.
 
I was out handsteering this morning when I noticed that the inner forestay / staysail furler looked a little unstable ?? so I had a look at the foil / cylinder that the sail slides up and it had moved up about 3 inches out of the drum that holds it and was in danger of popping out. Damm.Then I looked up and saw that at a location where the foil connects to its self it was flexing up and down, obviously the set screws had shaken themselves loose. This could cause the whole assembly to pull apart.Double Damm.
 
The solution. Lower the staysail and get to work on the issue at deck level. With the help of my portable drill and a lot of banging with a hammer I managed to get the foil 90% of the way back into its drum. Should hold. Now how to work on the 2 foil sections. This means that I had to climb up the inner forestay. Not an easy task at the dock, but the present conditions are 22 kts and about a 8 - 10 foot sea. Get the picture. Climbing up meant that I was hanging out over the water as I climbed. This was a serious, don't look down opportunity. After talking myself into actually climbing off the deck and up to the foil, it was a bucking bronco ride as I tried to hold on with my legs and operate a 5 mm Allen wrench with my hand that was not attached to the climbing gear. Oh and don't break the Allen wrench in the 4 screws that needed to be tightened as you swing around like crazy. Job done. Back to the deck. Always harder to climb down than up. Raising the sail back up took about 15 mins as I inched the sail up its track. This is normally a 2 person job as these sails are not designed to be taken up and down. Just rolled away when not in use on the foil. The sail is now up and flying and time will tell if it holds.
 
Lets see..... Yes I went up to the Radar Mount 3 times this morning, 2 free climbing ( sorry Mum ) and once with a harness and climbing gear. Problem the swivel mechanism has bent / worked its self loose and needed tightening. This was easier than the inner forestay job, more to hold on to and I also hope it holds until Torbay when we will have to take it apart and look at the damage.
 
Electronics.... 2 days ago my indicator that shows Wind direction and speed went crazy. Basically it was giving completely false info. I was contemplating a climb all the up the mast, but first put in a call to my electronics expert in Brisbane, Australia. We had a chat this morning 3:00 a.m. and I have re calibrated and all is now fine. Big problem has been the changeable conditions for the past 36 hours that at night with no wind indication makes sailing difficult. As sailing is all about wind angle to the boat, I had to go on feel. Get up on deck and make course adjustments until the boat speed was back up and we were moving in the right direction.
 
A small scare.....water in the forward compartment. BTC Velocity is a dry boat. Apart from condensation from the lexan windows and a little persistent leak from a water ballast tank pipe there is no water in the boat. SO, when I went to the head yesterday morning and there was ankle deep water forward I was concerned. After looking down for the source of the water after baling all the water into the toilet and pumping it overboard, I looked up. Oops. The forward hatch had loosened one of its handles and that where the water came in from. The night before had been a pounding beat in 25 kts and it had obviously shaken the handle forward.
 
Well that's it for now.....except that I expect 35 kts tonight as a deep low pressure come through, so tomorrow may also be a busy day.
 
Alan
BTC Velocity