C22 Whitby Single Handed

After missing last night's race for a Justin Hines concert (awesome by the way), I was eager to get out on the water.

Winds were howling 18 knots constant with gusts in the high 20s.  Took the time and rigged up a double reef on the main and set the storm jib.  The new tiller does not have an attachment for the autopilot OR the tiller tamer, so I switched out the tillers to the old one.  The autohelm has an electrical connector issue in that it would lose power, so I would giggle the connector, and it would start working again.  Could not rely on it, so I rigged up a line for the tiller tamer since I would be single handing.

Got out on the water a little before 6pm, did not see anyone else at their boats getting ready.  Ross from Gruntled called me on the radio, and too much wind for his C&C 29 singlehanding.  I was the only boat out there.

A LOT more wind out on the water, from the north, so no waves.  Perfect amount of sail, got the boat moving over 6 knots on several points of sail.

Coming back to the lighthouse, I noticed a boat leaving the harbour.  It was Harvey on French Vanilla, taking fellow club member Paul on a sailing trial.  Paul is VERY interested in the Mirage 33.

I tacked around them and said hi!

Time to head back in the channel so I hove to and got the motor deployed and running, and dropped the jib, lashing it to the deck with a bungee cord, and dropped the main on the cabintop.

This was a really good test for the 2HP motor. The wind was howling on the nose in the mid 20s, I had the motor going 3/4 throttle, and could make 2.5 knots into the channel.  Might be a little concerned if there were waves to pound through, but it drove the boat nicely.

Harvey, Sherry Lynn, Mel, and Paul caught me at the dock.

Trip Odometer: 7.33 miles
Moving Average: 5.1 knots
Moving Time: 01:26:00

Max Speed: 8.7 knots!

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2013/20130523.kmz