Neil and I got out on Saturday and despite not making it to the start of the Pursuit Race (much fettling around with rigging beforehand) we had a great first sail.
Immediate impressions:
-much more forgiving than the 4000
-obviously quicker and lighter
-deck area just looks and feels simpler and better laid out
-self tacking jib eases crew’s task considerably
-inner shroud set at just the right height to scrape the skin off a tall man’s forehead if not concentrating when going forward to fix pole rigging!
-only capsized once (with me at the helm) but she came up very easily despite larger sail area – actually, Neil stayed on & dry and easily scooped me up
The biggest issue for me (since I’ve never done it before) was getting out on the wire from the helming position. I found it about 10 times easier than I was fearing, given Bay & Nick’s description last week about needing 3 hands to do it (one for the hook/wire, one for the mainsheet, one for the tiller). On the basis that those with experience and an eye for perfection should look away now, here’s how I did it (on a port tack):
-from a position seated on the rail, with tiller and cleated main-sheet in right hand, adjust trapeze eye to lowest point with your left hand so you can hook-on with some tension when seated
-then uncleat the main-sheet and hold it in your left hand, with the tiller (obviously) still in your right hand – ie DON’T hold on to the wire at all
-then gradually push all the way out out with your legs alone, using the main-sheet and tiller as handholds since they are providing some resistance
-when things have settled down, cleat the main-sheet, transfer it briefly to your right hand, and then adjust yourself up the wire
-from then on, everything can (and according to the DVD should) be done standing up – but I’m going to practice my method for getting started
-in other words – and thanks to Rob Barnes for teaching me this – the idea is to never need to be holding onto the wire since it wastes the use of a hand
Admittedly we were only doing this in a F2-3 (an ideal training wind I might say) and we did need Neil counterbalancing on the leeward side during this little experiment (and certainly didn’t manage any jibes with kite or anything) but as I first go – I found it much simpler than I had anticipated.
I love this boat.
Regards
John A
Posted by rs800isc 
