This morning, I put the barrel screw adjusters back on the spreaders. Taking them off just didn't seem to help.
We decided to play around with the rig today and Kevin W. helped us with setting the boat up. We have a different procedure now.
We set the mast rake with no shroud tension so that the distance from the masthead to the center of the transom is 23’ 5”. We set the shrouds to be even length. We measure from the masthead to the middle of the pins on either side and make sure the length is even. This is to make sure the mast bend is even going side to side. Then, we use the spinnaker halyard, secure it to the thwart, and attach the other end to the trailer winch with a bowline tied in it to spare the shackle and tighten until a loose gauge placed on the shrouds reads about 32. We connect the forestay to hold a little less than that and loosen the trailer winch. The loose gauge when placed on the forestay shows about 17.
We didn't run it as high as some of the other folks, but I recall Dave K. using 300 lbs on the shrouds. The conversion scale is on the gauge, and I don’t have it handy, but I think we run about 280 on the shrouds and something less - 190(?) on the forestay. It’s far tighter than we were running in the past.
Dean I. mentioned we could improve our pointing by rigging the inhaulers (barber haulers) at 12" off of the centerline and also running them across the cuddy top so that the barber hauler coming from the port side hole would be used on the starboard jib sheet and vice versa. I had changed this set up a while back and went from using lance cleats on the top of the cuddy to a system where I go through the cuddy deck to cam cleats on the underside of the cuddy lip. When I had the old set up, I had crossed the lines, and never thought about it when I changed. Doh!
K. and I set up some markings on the various lines to note starting places to where we should trim.
In the afternoon, Phill R. and I took the boat out on the water.
He likes a lot of things about Surprise. He thinks the boat has a decent set up, and there is no reason she shouldn't be fast. He likes the spinnaker. Suggested that we reduce mast bend by shifting the butt of the mast forward. Keep the lengths of the shrouds and forestay the same. He showed me a lot of good tricks, mentioned keeping the boat flat. We flew the spinnaker and were able to keep it flying even when we were sailing up to about 70 degrees off the wind. That can be useful for some situations, especially at Huntington Lake where there are short tight reaches followed by runs. He suggested we change out the jam cleats used for the guys with cam cleats (He uses the Servo brand, but Harken would also work.) I will have to consider what to do about the guy hooks, I'd like to place tweakers or twingers, about the hull to deck joint is rather wide on the spindrift boats compared to the O'Days. I'm sure there is a way to do it, but it will take some consideration.
I brought my camera out on the water and am kicking myself for not taking a picture then. I just got so involved with the whole process thing that I forgot. I really appreciate Phill and Kevin taking their time to help. It's good to have some differing opinions on things, and I guess it's my job to decide which bits of advice to choose.
The junior NACs were held today and it was really great to see these kids sailing the Day Sailer with their parents or an elder as crew. All of them were great. and I envy them. Simply having the chance to do that is something so many of us never had the chance to do when we were kids. Those who did sail when they were kids are usually the best ones in the class, The guys who take home national championship trophies. I envy the kids who have this chance and hope they make the most of their experiences.
Tomorrow we begin racing!