Forecast was for very strong winds, increasing during the afternoon and evening, so I listened to my mature muscles and didn’t travel to Åsgårdstrand. Remarkably strong blow here in Kongsberg in the evening, so the forecast was probably correct. Lots of autumn-coloured leaves on the ground this morning, wednesday
One more tuesday regatta, next week. Hope for fairer winds!
How about this?
Josin won second prize! Whooppeee! I helped.
A very interesting regatta. Very variable wind, in strength and direction. Start delayed until there was enough wind to move the boats. Then start confusion due to rearranging times and signals, but everyone got away reasonably together. It took me a while to learn my biggest genoa again, having not used it this season, and got rather left behind in the 3-5 knot breeze, but round the first mark and I got the genoa in, gennaker out proceeedure just right, and gained a lot on those who were getting mudded. You win some, you lose some. It was my turn to lose some later, but luckily not too much! (Memo: Coil all ropes that are not in use. If left in a wuzzle on the cockpit floor, the boat gremlin lassos one’s feet). Plenty to keep me busy due to the variable wind, so even the coffee in the thermos didn’t get touched.
The evening before, I had emptied the boat of all the summer-sailing clobber, hoping for a significant reduction in weight, but it was more psychological than real. Anyway, every little helps.
Next tuesday is another evening regatta, so, with this result in mind, we are going to have to be on our mettle. A better start will be on the program!
Time for a little snooze.
All’s well.
Was spent sitting on the jetty wishing for some wind and telling stories. There was absolutely not a breath. Mirror-calm sea. Slanting evening sunshine. Coffee and chocklate. The last tuesday evening regatta of the season was a draw, no winners, no losers. Better luck next season!
Next event, the club regatta, on saturday. Foecast says that the high has not moved much, so it will probably be another waiting game. On with the biggest, lightest sails. (Metaphorically only, the usual, but hope is encouraging). Goal is at least to not be last. Last year the wind died before several of us could finish, so he who decides the course should have at least a Plan B, taking us turtles into consideration. Maybe I should empty Josin of all the weighty and unnecessary clobber before the start, even empty the water tanks. Might add 0,1 knots. Every little helps, and the competitive instinct is not yet dead.
Go, Josin, go!
There’s something soothing about fog. Sharp edges smoothed out, sounds muffled, view restricted. Take it easy!
On our way in to Oslo to show Josin’s non-standard safety features on saturday to a few interested people. Yesterday, wednesday, was busy delivering and collecting things, including a pulleyblock which was recommended would help reduce the genakker-rope’s tendencies to wuzzle. Fitted. Genakker hoisted. Wait for a little breeze to test things out. Late afternoon, OK. Out and head north in the southerly breeze. Un-roll genakker, Success. Sail a bit. Try a gybe. Success. Sail some more. Try a roll-up. Difficult. Too much wind in the sail. Un-roll genoa, behind which the genakker can hide. Try roll-up again. Success This is fun. Oops! Land approaching. Head north again. Un-roll genakker. Easypeasy. Roll-up genoa. There we are, genakker pulling us along at splendid speed in 10 to 15 knots of wind, and in the direction I wanted to go. Delightful. Easy sail to Bile, outside Son on the east side of the Oslofjord, where a friendly mooring buoy awaited, the wind dying away in the setting sun making genakker roll-up a cinch.
Late wok dinner. Two other boats potter in to other buoys. Dark, until a near-full moon creeps up over the trees and makes a glittering stipe on the water. Fog starts to form. Sleep. Of course, the mooring buoy has to come during the night and bump the hull, gently of course, (must be lonely), until the combination of breeze and current sort themselves out.
Thick fog early this morning, vis about 20 meters. Sort out the mooring buoy wuzzle and go back to sleep, to the sound of mournful foghorns out in the shipping lane.
It is now lunchtime, and although the fog has thinned, vis now about 100 meters, I do not want to navigate the relatively narrow Drøbak sound in poor vis. Them big ships rushing along have radar and can hopefully see Josin, but I have only AIS which is not so effective at seeing others, so lunch will be taken, then a snooze before continuing.
Not a breath of wind of course.
All’s well.
The sailing season is not over yet, thankfully, but nor is the fixit season. Since gennaker sailing had been a rope-twiddling frustration at times, efforts have been made to cure the disease. The gennaker is on a roller-furler. A continuous furler-rope goes from the cockpit and to the end of the bowsprit, and round a pulley at the bottom of a torsionally-stiff rope to the top of the mast, with a swivel at the top. Pulling on one side of the furling-rope then roller-furls the sail from the top down. Easy. Theory and practice do not always match though, do they?. Setting the sail is the reverse, yes?. Well, not quite. There is the sail, neatly rolled up, hoisted to the masthead, and sheets attached. Ready? Yes. Start the unfurling by hauling on the sheet, furling-rope slack, wind gets into the top of the sail, and frantic rotation unfurls the sail from the top down, as you haul in on the sheet. Until it stops. Prematurely. Sail half-unfurled shaped like an hour-glass and full of straining wind. The furling rope gets stuck and gets twiddled around places it shouldn’t. This must only happen when there is plenty of time to think, plenty of sea-room to carry on sailing, and rapid problem-solving available.
The problem was laid before my friendly sailmaker/supplier, Sverre Tangerud of Elvstrøm Sails, and checks asked, modifications suggested, and made, one of which was a thinner furler-rope, less likely to get stuck. Correct. It didn’t get stuck nearly as often. What more? Other sailors in a gathering around the bowsprit with more-or-less helpful suggestions, and changes made, including a new fitting as the old one decided to take a swim.
I think we’re nearly there. Just waiting now for suitable, gentle conditions to go out and test. Last test-sail, before the mods, resulted in a bent bowsprit, when the sail, first wind-empty in the shadow of a large, high-stacked container ship, then suddenly very wind-full and powerful. Nothing broke, which is yet another proof that Josin takes good care of me, also when I make a mistake!. (Or should that be if…).
Note: The competitive instinct is not yet dead. We took part in the tuesday-evening regatta. Nine boats. Discussion theme: The strong wind. Not too bad at the start, but it got stronger. But although my physical strength was put to the test, I was competing, and didn’t come last, so there!
All’s well
Josin's 2025 cruise 