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Season opener / new failure modes / new downwind sailing technique


billygoat

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Warm and windy on my day off, so I declared the sailing season open today.

Turned out a good day to demonstrate why it's wise to sail off a lee shore, especially when sailing solo in an isolated place like Lake Burrumbeet (near Ballarat).

I pioneered a novel way to sail downwind, catching some wind in a billow of mainsail leech while dragging the mast along in the water beside the boat. Hmmm. That's not where the mast is supposed to go.

downwind.jpg

Turns out, although I've been paranoid about checking the state of the plates under the side stay saddles... I haven't taken much notice of the bolts themselves. New and interesting ways for a 30+ year old Mari to fail in service.

brokensaddle.jpgsaddle.jpg

Derigged when I got to shore, and only had a short tow through the reeds to get back to the boatramp.

tow.jpg

GPS says I was out for a total of 0.5 miles. Including the wade back to the trailer.

Maybe we can open the season properly another day. Once I get some new saddle bolts.

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