Quite a lot has transpired since my last post. Thursday was the in-water survey and sea trial. My surveyor, Jim Hilton; the previous owner, Jeff; my dad; and I were aboard for the event. Jim looked the boat over again and we took her out for a sail to make sure the systems were working. All is good, she’s a solid boat, all of the major systems were in working order. I was a little nervous driving Sans Souci for the first time and was anxious about backing her into the slip. She handles well under power and I easily returned her to her spot with no drama. Soon after the survey was over, I let George know that all was acceptable and he released the holdback funds to settle the final part of the purchase.
On Saturday the weather was good and it was time to move from a temporary slip in Portsmouth to my summer slip at Borden Light Marina in Fall River, MA. We motored out of the marina, around Common Fence Point at the northern end of Aquidneck Island, and headed south down Mt. Hope Bay in 12 knots of breeze. I wanted to prove to myself I could handle the boat alone so I set to raising the main and unfurling the sails without any help from mom or dad. With the aid of the autopilot, I was able to get her sailing and tack her unassisted and this felt very good. Sans Souci sails very well in 12-15 knots and we beat our way south in the SSW winds for about an hour. We turned around as we came even with the northern end of Prudence Island and reached for Fall River. I am really pleased with how well she sails in light air! Sans Souci is a heavy boat and I’m grateful we can achieve 5-6 knots upwind in a 12-15 knot breeze. This bodes well for long passages.
A short video from the first day:
We arrived at Borden Light Marina (BLM) at about 4 in the afternoon and my slip is at the southern entrance of the fairly large marina. I asked for a slip as far as possible from the rowdy bar at the northern end, the Tipsy Seagull. The Tipsy Seagull has live music nightly and I thought it might be good to be farther from that and the tipsy patrons. It was easy to get Sans Souci into her slip, this time I am facing in. I prefer to have some privacy in the cockpit and having her bow in gives me that. The sunsets are lovely here and the cockpit will be a great place to hang out and watch the sun go down. However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns, BLM is a bit noisy, even when the Tipsy Seagull isn’t. The breakwater is made of old barges chained to pilings and they squeak incessantly in choppy water. The barge breakwaters are also not that effective and my spot can be a little bouncy. It’s not terrible and I’ll undoubtedly get used to it. The other disappointment is that the marina’s WiFi doesn’t reach me, even with Sans Souci’s fancy long range access point and onboard WiFi system. I have a hot spot so it’s not a serious problem but if they advertise having WiFi, it should reach all of the slips! I’ve started to meet my neighbors and they are universally friendly. One neighbor on H dock leant me a needed 50 to 30 amp adapter for the shore power system. A generous gesture to a new arrival and something with which the boating community is replete.
My view
Sunday brought another opportunity to sail and my parents joined me. The forecast was for another day of SW 12-15 knots. Boy, did they get that wrong! We motored out of BLM and headed south to Mt. Hope Bay. the breeze had freshened and Sans Souci was happily galloping into the wind at about 6 knots. We had set the full main, staysail and genoa and were churning along nicely. We continued south on a port tack (healing to starboard) with an occasional need to tack to the east to stay away from the western side of Mt. Hope Bay. As we crossed under the Mt. Hope Bridge, the weather started to turn a little rainy and the wind increased. Dad had the helm and Sans Souci was careening along with her rail under. After a tack, we were hit with a strong gust of over 30 knots. We still had all her canvas aloft and it was over powering the boat. I decided we needed to shorten sail in a hurry. Here’s where it got a little tense. Heading into the wind, one needs to luff the genoa to furl it in. Luffing a huge jenny in now 30-35 knots makes for violent flapping of the sail. Furthermore, the sail is very heavy and I had to use the winch and work very hard to get it rolled up. As the sail was flapping, the genoa sheets were flailing around dangerously, causing a hazard to anyone or anything nearby. The dodger took the brunt of the abuse from the thrashing sheets and two port-side isinglass panels were shattered in an instant. the racket was deafening as the sheets battered the deck and everything else around them as the genoa slowly retreated with me huffing and puffing, cranking the winch as fast as I could. After I had the jenny furled, I was able to reef the main quickly with the jiffy reefing system. Jiffy reefing is the greatest, I was able to easily shorten the main from the cockpit and that quickly brought Sans Souci under control.
After we had the sails shortened and Sans Souci sailing more calmly, I had time to assess the damage. Besides the two previously mentioned panels destroyed, there was no other damage apparent. The day continued with occasional squalls and we decided to head home as we reached the south end of Prudence Island. After thinking about how hard it was to furl the genoa, I realized my mistakes. I should have first reefed the main as that is quick and depowers the boat significantly. Then, I should have headed off the wind a bit to furl the jenny. The flogging sail would then be farther from the boat and much less able to do that kind of damage. Lesson learned!
I checked the weather radar as we sailed north toward home and saw a rather large area of red heading our way. I made the decision then to drop all of her sails and motor for the marina. This turned out to be an unnecessary precaution, but I was already wary of the conditions and thought it was better to not press my luck. Just as we approached the marina, we were hit with another squall. there was no way I was going to try to dock the boat in 20-25 knots so we continued north to check out the old US Navy battleship, Massachusetts, that is docked just north of BLM. This detour gave time for the wind to settle and I had an easy time getting Sans Souci tucked back in her slip.
I was exhausted from the efforts of the day but as I reflect, I am very pleased. I made some mistakes but I learned from them. I’ll be creating a pre-float check list as I should have prepared the boat better for the weather we encountered. I better understand and respect the power of the boat, she can handle quite a lot but she prefers to not be over powered. I’ll be shortening sail much sooner from now on. I’m excited for the next adventure, we are planning to sail to Cuttyhunk this weekend and will spend the night at anchor Saturday night. Fun times!
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Looks like an awesome adventure, Hugh! Glad your parents joined you for the maiden voyage, too! I’ll look forward to reading more as the adventure unfolds–have fun with Cuttyhunk!