None of the other boats wanted to race in such conditions, so I took advantage of the light air to try out my sails. My main sail had just recently arrived back from a sailmaker in Nova Scotia where it had been sent to be refurbished. It is old, but the budget did not allow replacement. This should get a few more years out of it.
The main did not receive a lot of attention, but it does now have all new slides/slugs. The design of the new ones is different, and while they will protect the webbing better, they tend to get jammed in the mast gate. Some sort of modification is required there.
Also, I have been given a genoa which I estimate to be a 130, but I'll have to take measurements to confirm it. It has been raised at the dock, just to confirm it could be raised, but never before taken out sailing. With almost no wind, this would be a good test.
The genoa does not have a lot of clearance at the head, but there is a long pigtail that I use for the jib that can be bypassed or replaced for this sail. Otherwise, it works very well on Serenity. From the shore, friends could see me moving along pretty good, as I was able to maintain 1.5 to 2 knots, and occasionally get up to 4 with no wind to see on the water.
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| Sailing up to the fog bank |
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| Moon Shadow trying to catch up |
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| Photo of Serenity by Dave Leyden |
It was a good evening for the testing I wanted to do, but I did not get back to the dock quickly enough to avoid the rain. I could see the weather was changing, and rushed to get the sails down and get in. It started just as I was entering the marina. Never good weather on race night.
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