To recap. I’ve got this boat which is a minsail – forerunner to the Topper. I bought it without a sail. The sail I’ve borrowed has ripped so I’ve tied a knot in the end (the clew) to hold the rope, I’ve turned one of the auto bailers in the bottom of the boat into a hole and patched it with gaffa tape and I’ve cracked my dagger board.
Today I decided to try a bit of bad weather, high wind (for me) sailing. Well to be honest the weather kind of decided it for me. What could possibly go wrong? I got the boat rigged without any problem despite the wind. To be honest I was a bit nervous. I shot across the reservoir just short of the speed of sound – it was great! And after a 15 minutes of high wind adventure I’d completely forgotten my previous anxieties.
After one particularly deft turn at the far end of the reservoir the back end of my boom flew up into the air. Now I’m no expert but I was pretty sure that something had gone wrong. I stalled the boat and after a brief investigation I noticed that bracket on the boom that the kicking strap fixes to had ripped off. Oops I had noticed a loose rivet in that and meant to fix it but that’s diy not sailing.
As I staggered back to the club house to attempt a repair I noticed Gwyn had arrived to collect his boat. During a brief chat in pouring rain Gwyn suggested tying some rope round the boom and forming a loop to attach the kicking strap to. I tried to tie a Sailors Gripping Hitch but couldn’t remember how to do it properly so ended up with a mass of knots and dangly bits everywhere, not pretty but it worked and I was off again.
I lasted about another 45 minutes before retreating to the club house to get out of the rain. All in all a great time. I learned loads and didn’t capsize.
P.S.
A minisail – forerunner to the Topper is for sale on ebay. Keeping my eye on this. The rate I’m trashing these rare as rocking horse poo boats I’m going to be needing plenty of spare parts.
bananaFrog - sailing 