5 July 09 - first sail for the real 'baby blue'

3 nautical miles

I came down to the club this morning to take Kiriakos out for a sail. He motors her first around the bay just to get a feel. We then rig the sails and I go out with him and Demetris [his son]. Demetris is silent but grinning ear to ear... happy as could be. This will be father and son time in the future I think.

As we are sailing the wind gets up a little... no, the wind picks up a lot. But the boat feels safe and sails well. We head back to the shore to wait for Kiriakos wife and other kids to come and admire their new family member.

I had been hoping to do a first sailing lesson for a couple of the kids in the afternoon. But as you can see from the chart its now Bft 6 gusting 8+. Not first lesson wind and not even wind I would sail in with light or inexperienced crew.

So I have lunch and watch the daughter of one of the club members keep going to Nikkos... 'Ella, Ella' she calls and drags him off to put her on the club safety boat.

We start them young at our club!

Eventually time to head home.

4 July 09 - New boat at the club

14 nautical miles

I tried a few people as crew for today, but all could not make it. So I went down to the club anyway thinking I would single-hand it. The forecast was pretty strong winds, but I hoped they would be lighter than forecast. As it turns out they were not.

James was sailing his optimist in the afternoon, so was free and crewed for me in the morning. The winds were pretty strong. Neil reckoned 3 gusting 5. The combined weight of me and James is not quite the same as me and Tim! Anyhow, we tacked out into the wind towards the harbour then goose-winged back at great speed - we touched 8.9 knots.

James was not quite sure about trying the goose-winging, but it felt safe and in control. I always start on a broad reach, feel how the boat is behaving and see if she will be comfortable and safe goose-winging before actually doing it. Sometime I guess a spinnaker is called for.

After lunch we wait for Kiriakos to bring his new boat to the club. Its a laser 13 - the little sister of Neil and Paulas boat.

Theirs was called 'Baby Blue' renamed to just 'Blue' but this really does look like Baby Blue!

Lunchtime comes and goes...

3pm comes and goes...

Kiriakos eventually arrives at about 4pm towing his new boat, takes it off the roadt trailer and then pushes it on the hard to check it out.

People gathered around to admire...

make comment...

and help rig...

feel the hull...

give advice...

check the rig tension... whatever.

Kiriakos like a proud dad after the birth of a new baby is keen to show her off and all together we rig the mast, standing rigging and sails. She is in really good condition.

One vital rope missing: Downhaul for the centre-board. This had also been missing from Neil and Paula's boat and made things more difficult when they went over. Neil helped Kiriakos add this extra rope. She's now ready to sail... but we will wait till tomorrow for that.

Finally it's time for pictures of the family together - three generations plus the new daughter!

2 July 09 - New rig on the trimaran

Afternoon sail with Tim in his trimaran. We're testing the new rig [tightened] and his repair to the sail [better than the sailmaker]. The boat sails very much better despite light winds, more responsive and faster.

I also suggested a downhaul on the sail to the boom rather than just outhaul. Its loose footed. I cut some of the rope from the outhaul and use that. I stood up to fix it and the boom swings.... with me hanging on... landing on one of the pontoons!

Yes, she sails better still with the sail better shaped. The only problem being the downhaul doesn't run along the boom. Tim suggests the balls used for rope ties... later Neil suggests just small bits of plastic tubing to make it run easier.

Tim's off to UK on Saturday for two weeks and he suggested we plan a mini-cruise for when he comes back. Two days, about 30 nautical miles per day. There are two options - east to Fireman's Bay or west to Limassol. East looks better as there are many bolt holes [bays] to run into if we don't make it or weather not good enough. Only plus to going west would be the look on Andreas [True North Yachting] face coming into the marina in a 16 foot dinghy sailed from Larnaca!

So, we need to order the charts for this - its a bit more than I would like to do on ready reckoning, but should be great fun.

20 June 09 - What a blow!

22 nautical miles

Today was a pleasure cruise for the family who are staying with us right now. When they arrived I mentioned the possibility of a sail and David jumped at the idea. At least two members of the family get very travel sick so declined, but we all went down to the club - the shore based part of the family intending to swim and sun bathe.

The wind in the morning was gentle Bft 3 - Bft 4... the cyan track shows the route we sailed. This was mostly helmed by David and Anna except the downwind run back to the club which I did.

After lunch the wind had picked up quite a bit [yellow track]... really quite a bit so we reefed the main sail and I took out David plus daughter number 3... he has four daughters.

Sailing in Bft 5 - Bft 6 was very much more trying even reefed and to start with I was helming. What made it more trying was the way the wind changed direction and speed as we closed in on the shoreline. We followed roughly the same route as the morning but at significantly greater speed.

As we turned back I set the boat on a broad reach, intending to reach all the way back, I gybed once and then went about and found that I could in fact goose-wing back. Now that was great fun... we were really surfing the waves. David was calling out the numbers from the GPS... 7.5... 7.6... 8... 8.2... eventually on one tremendous surf down a wave we hit 9.1 knots! This is probably the fastest I have ever sailed Galini. That was 9.1 knots surfing while reefed on a goose-wing run!

Later Neil reckoned Blue was doing 9.2 knots surfing and I can well believe it... Blue always likes the heavier airs and outsails us in those conditions... or maybe it's just that Neil outsails me!

As we came in towards the club I found the wind abated somewhat so decided to let Christina and David have a sail.

We headed off down towards the Power Station for a few minutes letting them both helm. Christina was a study of concentration. Well, it was blowing pretty hard even still.

Since the wind was up the kite surfers and sail boarders were out enjoying the blow... though they were all inshore not enjoying the real blow a couple of miles out!

Yes, that's water all over the lens... there was spray blowing all over the place as we climbed over the waves.

She passed the helm back to her dad... now you can see the look of pure joy on his [and her] face. This is sailing and David is thoroughly enjoying it!

I took the helm for the track back to the club and the squiggles are where I am showing David how to back the genoa when going about in waves that tend to push you back. The trick is to allow the genoa to back for a few seconds, almost hove-to, and that blows the bows round making going about easier. The timing for that is important... so we did it till we got the timing right.

Well... that was a really enjoyable sail. The afternoon particularly.

19 June 09 - Sailing Tim's trimaran

5 nautical miles

The track pretty much shows our route around one of the Petrolina tankers.

Strangely most times the tankers are not in the same place as the Google Earth image... but today it was spot on.
Tim and I were sailing his trimaran.

He had been hoping for stronger winds, but they were very light today. Just as we passed the tanker on the starboard side the wind drops even more so we head back to the club as we didn't have the motor with us.
This was my first time out on his trimaran.

Tim had said recently that it seemed in light airs the boat was sailing slower. Back at the club we tightened the forestay and the leading edge of the jib and then had a quick out and back to test and it seems to be significantly faster and more responsive.

16 June 09 - 3pm phone call "Quick sail?"

Approx 7 nautical miles

Phone call with Tim around 3pm... 'Quick sail?' well do we need to be asked?

So... down to the club and out for a quick sail. The batteries for the GPS were flat so there is no track. The most notable thing about this sail was that we were sailing so fast on a goose-wing run downwind that we were overtaking the waves. Wish I could tell how fast it was.

13 Jun 09 - a very different morning and afternoon

25 nautical miles

Kind of busy weekend. Tim couldn't do a whole day today, but could do the afternoon, so when I was round at Sheila's house yesterday evening I offered a morning to take her and her friend Peggy out sailing.

And that's how it happened. I let Shiela take the helm first and then got about to sort out the boat... which involved climbing out on the foredeck to sort out the roller reefing which was jammed.

Peggy and Marie started off as passengers. Marie asked to helm, but this is Peggy and Sheila's treat so we held her off for a while.

Since the wind was really calm and waves low I then passed the helm over to Peggy.

Now that was interesting. I have about 6 words of German and Peggy, who is German, has not many more words of English. So Sheila or Marie interpreted.

Then when we got back to the shore, we took out the kids in about 3 short trips. I really could do with some children's buoyancy aids!

Then at 1pm Tim and Mark showed up so we started a longer trip out around the bay and back pask Dhekelia. The wind picked up and it was great fun sailing. Really really enjoyable.