Evanston: the three sail boat revisited
Evanston: the three sail boat revisited
Those of you who own boats will have no difficulty in believing that the two small fittings pictured above cost more than $1000. After all they were made for boats. But then a thousand dollars isn’t what it used to be.
They constitute a gennaker furling gear made by Facnor, and, if they work, will be well worth it. Problem is that I won’t know for a couple of months.
Since 1984 when I had jib furling gear installed in the Virgin Islands on RESURGAM, I have had three sail boats. For that matter, CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE I and II were three sail boats too, but they were yawls.
I had a few extra sails on RESURGAM, as I do on THE HAWKE OF TUONELA, but in the past twenty-three years and almost three circumavigations I have only set a fully battened mainsail, a furling jib, and some variety of cruising spinnaker.
I set a spinnaker in an ATN stuffer sock. There is never a problem getting it up, but if the wind quickly gusts to twenty knots, there can be a problem in getting it down because the sail overpowers the self-steering vane. I have not grown more fond of dancing around the foredeck of a broaching boat with the passing years, thus the gennaker furling gear, which in theory will enable me to furl the sail more quickly and from the cockpit.
What you see is pretty much all there is, other than an endless furling line that I will have made in New Zealand. In place of a luff foil, a low stretch tape is sewn onto the luff of the sail.
We will see. Probably in September.
At the moment the Bay of Islands is colder than it has been for the past three years. Winter lows are usually around 7ºC/45ºF. Last night’s low was 3ºC, which is only 37ºF.
I have a fireplace on HAWKE, but I hope August is more normal.
Monday, June 18, 2007