Been a busy spring and in to summer

So where have I been you ask all of my faithful readers? Why sailing and doing boat work and racing and.... yeah.. been a busy spring so far and the summer is looking to be the same. 

My son Stu having a look at the situation Ben is dealing with. 

We finally got Seeker launched on May 4th, yes, Star Wars day to you of the geek persuasion. That all went very well until we wanted to start the motor and head to the mooring. The motor would not run at low idle so we could not get it in to gear. After fiddling about with it for a while i decided to utilize an empty slip directly across from the crane we use to get the mast up at the club. I talked to the manager and the next day I emailed the person who's slip I was in and all was good for the rest of the week. 

Looks good in a slip.

Disconnecting (cutting) motor wires under the cockpit. Yes it was a blast...

The next day I and my friend Clay, First 260 blog here, tried to get it going with lots of carb cleaner, beer and swearing to no avail. I called my friend the car, airplane and not train mechanic but I am sure he could if he wanted to. He said "Dan, just take the f***er off and bring it over to my place." So I did. A couple of days of taking the carb apart, cleaning the sh** out of it and working it out, we (the "Royal we"), got the motor functional. The next day, Friday, which was the last day I could be in the slip, my crew guy Ben and I put the motor back on over lunch then I returned in the evening to motor out finally to the mooring. 

Yep, that's a carb.

Finally on the mooring. Needs boom & sails though.

The next thing that had to be dealt with was the furler. The drum was not quite high enough but not all that bad. So after a few days of messing about with that and trying a few different things, i.e. spending $$$ that I ended up not needing to, I made the decision that hell, the damn thing spins like it is supposed to, let's get the damn sail on and get on with it. So that is what happened. 

In the slip next to Clay's 260 so we could play (work) on her.

Test sail. 

Finally sailing.

We have been racing on Thursdays, Sundays, and Saturdays this season at WYC. We have been learning the boat, gaining experience, and finishing last.... We are not all that experienced racing to begin with and getting used to the boat is taking some time. Staying on the wind, paying as much attention as possible to tell tales, not over driving tacks/gybes is what I am working on learning as the driver. Main trimming, jib trimming, and just plain sailing well is coming along but we all have a long way to go. Schedules of summer make gaining more experience than in races difficult to schedule but that is the nature of the time of year. 

Boom Kicker install.

Boom Kicker install.

Boom Kicker install.

I will be posting more soon on races and sailing in general. Still need to get a pic of her under sail from another boat and I have purchased a GoPro so videos will be coming too.

As for projects;

• Furler.
• New Boom Kicker (finally).
• Lots of little things boat owners can relate too.
• New Dacron main.
• New 135% Mylar/Kevlar Genoa.

Until next time!!