[Rhodes22-list] Spinnaker - Finally!

[Wally Buck]

We had another great weekend here in East TN. Highs in the 70s with steady 
wind. Before we headed out Saturday I dropped my mast and tightened my 
Tricolor anchor light. I also rigged second halyard and up-haul for 
spinnaker. The light had worked its way loose during heavy winds and was no 
longer pointing up. I hate when that happens.

I had been putting off dropping the mast for a couple of weeks. Man you got 
to love the GB hoist system. I have the newer system that utilizes a bail on 
the mast; you only need to add extenders to the forward lowers. I dropped 
the mast with a couple of guys watching; they were all impressed with the 
hoist design. I was getting ready to move the mast forward so I could reach 
the light when one of the guys suggested I float my boat back over to his 
Shannon. I could then stand on his bow spirit to tighten light. This saved 
me from unplugging lights and moving the mast forward. By the way his 28 
foot Shannon is a gorgeous boat that almost sank this winter due to faulty 
seacock.

So Saturday we flew the Spinnaker for the first time. My wife took the helm 
and I practiced a couple of sets, drops, and jibes. This is the first boat I 
owned with rolling furling jib; comes in real handy during Spinnaker use. It 
was nice not needing to drop and gather the genny.  It was a little windier 
than I would have liked for the test run but everything went just fine.

We spent the night on the water meeting up with some friends who were out 
camping on a Sea Pearl. We got to use my new inverter. I made several 
batches of frozen margaritas. The blender ran just fine.

Sunday the wind was really blowing and we decided not to mess with the 
Spinnaker. We spent the day on the water and came in just after sunset. The 
only negative, I forgot my camera!

I hope some of you got out....

Wally


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