That's right - we left the dock! Roger Hall, the Doyle Sails pro suggested we take the boat out, hoist the new main, check things out, and go over the details. Seeing that we hadn't left the dock since arrival in Opua about 4 months ago, the burning question was whether the barnacle growth on the prop was too great to get steerage and gears! I probably haven't mentioned that the currents here are quite fast, and can easily reach 2-3 knots thru the marina area, not counting any cross breeze that generally is happening also. Getting in and out of your slip can be a bit nerve racking, but this morning things went smoothly, with our friend Rich (Slip Away) in his dinghy ready to act as a tug in case we needed it (we didn't); and we motored out to the fairway and hoisted the main. It set beautifully and the Doyle workmanship is definitely up to offshore standards. We then put a reef in to see how things set up, spending about an hour going over things with Roger. Coming back into the marina we had 10-12 knots of wind directly astern along with a 2 knot current pushing us along. We had to make a hard right turn and then a hard left into our slip, so timing is everything. Our friends Paul & Karen (Gigi) took our lines as we berthed gently and secured the boat. Things went great, for which we are so thankful! We also had a chance to go over a few sytems we hadn't used for quite a while, and all was well. Roger then measured for the new sail cover we need made and we sat and visited for a few minutes before he had to scoot off for other appointments. We then went into Keri Keri with Paul and Karen to do a bit of shopping and for us to get a few items we'll need for our upcoming road trip. It's been a long day.
(Infini is hull #49 of the 43' Westsails...)
1 comment:
Glad your new main looks good. Have a great road trip!!
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