Tue May 17 20:30:00 EDT 2011
Sailing overnight from Sodus Bay to Cape Vincent, we saw many bright red flashing lights from many miles away that were not on my charts (which are a few years out of date). Someone had mentioned earlier that there was a wind generator farm on Wolfe Island, which was quite noticeable from Cape Vincent, so we figured that was probably what it was. As dawn broke, it became clear they were wind generators. Jordan took this picture of Wolfe Island from Cape Vincent a few evenings later.
We spent several days in Cape Vincent, NY, which is a pleasant, boater-friendly place. At first we were finishing up some work on the boat, then there were several days of strong headwinds that were better spent in port.
|
Comments [2]
Tue May 10 10:17:03 EDT 2011
Lighthouse at the western end of the scenic Thousand Islands area (Lake Ontario/St Lawrence River).
|
Wed May 4 19:07:23 EDT 2011, Lake Ontario
Though the bird in the picture looks like he's surveying the whole operation, he really just came aboard to rest while we sailed across Lake Ontario on a rainy day to Rochester, NY.
|
After a couple of days of traveling in the rain, we are now anchored in Great Sodus Bay, enjoying the sunshine :).
We're planning to be around for a few days doing some work on the boat, then heading out the St Lawrence.
Ron O.
Tue May 3 18:48:45 EDT 2011, Toronto, Canada
The bird in the picture seemed to feel it was his duty to make enough noise landing and walking about to serve as a reliable alarm clock each morning. Now that we've left Toronto (are in Rochester), I'll need to find another alarm clock :).
|
George, the spool with chain showing is 100m of 22mm (7/8") polyester rope with about 15m of 3/8" chain. The rope is for use as a shore line, a drogue line and an anchor line for a Fortress anchor that is kept on deck. The chain was sized for the Fortress anchor (which was sized as something manageable to set and retrieve from a dinghy). So the chain gets used for chafe resistance on a shore line, and as a secondary anchor line.
Sun Apr 17 9:29:38 EDT 2011, Toronto, Canada
Too windy (there is a gale) today for a daysail, so here is a picture from a couple of weeks ago.
|
Sat Apr 16 9:54:03 EDT 2011
In a comment to an earlier post, my friend Bonnie noted that as she was blogging about the fate of New York's South Street Seaport Museum, she was reminded of a pleasant sail there on a nice December day on my pinky schooner, Rosemary Ruth (which is still for sale ) a while back. Bonnie's story about the sail is here.
|
https://picasaweb.google.com/georgeconk/RrSpring2007#
Tue Apr 5 8:36:42 EDT 2011, Toronto, Canada
Sailing downwind in light air. After the bowsprit changes, with the two headsails almost side by side, the sails are well-separated all the way.
|
S
Tue Apr 5 8:33:37 EDT 2011, Toronto, Canada
After the bowsprit changes, on port tack, the two headsails touch at the bottom, but are separated farther up.
I have not yet moved the yankee jib sheet lead aft, but probably will have to. The yankee jib can now chafe on the lower spreader tip, so I will be padding that soon.
|
Mon Apr 4 22:38:50 EDT 2011, Toronto, Canada
This is what was done on the bowsprit to move the outer jib inboard so that the bobstay (wire connecting end of bowsprit to hull that takes a beating when pushing through ice) could be discarded. A new tab was welded on for the yankee jib (outermost sail) to attach to, the yankee jib stay and furler were shortened 23cm/10". The inner jib was moved back a bit and to the side a bit. The bowsprit was welded all round to the hull, to handle twisting loads when only one headsail is set. In the picture, Joe is welding the side of the bowsprit to the hull (they were only bolted before)
The two roller furling headsails were moved to be pretty much side-by-side, with the anchor between them.
All the tests done so far have gone well, there is no problem tacking, the boat seems to sail fine with the yankee jib in its new position.
The next step is to cut off the parts of the bowsprit that are no longer needed to save the weight up forward.
|
Thu Mar 31 9:00:14 EDT 2011, Toronto, Canada
Yesterday had pleasant, light winds, which were good for testing the yankee jib (the big, high sail at the front of the boat). The stay (wire) that the yankee jib is on has been moved inboard about 1m (3'). More on this later. Now both jibs are almost side-by-side.
So far, it looks like the yankee jib is setting well enough, and there don't seem to be any problems tacking. The sail can snag the spreaders now (because it goes farther back), but I can work around that with padding on the spreader tips. Next I need to test it in stronger winds to see if I really need to move the sheet lead aft or not--in light winds it seems fine where it is.
|
