Sailing in Ontario

**alzuger** · 7th August 2012, 02:27 PM

Hi Friends,

It has been a long time. I've been off the map for too long, but I have been enjoying some intermittent lurking over the last year, and it has been inspiring to see everyones projects commencing and adventures continuing.

Big changes for me. My lovely wife got a badass job here in her hometown of Toronto so we packed it up and moved here. I gave up my metal fabrication studio and have started over in the great white north, having reinvented myself as a maker of jewelry. The first collection is coming together well, site is up, and I'm working on an online store. I've also been setting up my studio with numerous smaller pieces of equipment I kept ant took with me from my previous life. It's all been very exciting, fingers crossed that it works!

Canada is a great place, I encourage anyone who hasn't been to visit. I live near (walking distance from) a big lake (Ontario) and the Georgian Bay is 2 hours north and worth the drive. It took me a while to get trailer plates and a new vehicle hitch situation worked out, and then of course there is the challenge of getting the boss to let me off for a weekend (he can be a real jerk sometimes, always nose to the grindstone) but after way too long I finally got out on the water and was it ever great.

Rigged and ready

Yours truly trying to operate the camera while in a waterproof pouch. It has an opaque back side so i can only use the camera on the front of the phone.

Good steady breeze with some gusts of 10 or 11 knots. It’s nice to be back on the water!

This is my homemade sail. It does a great job of making the boat go, but no matter what the leach always has slack in it and flaps. It is all flat with edge rounding to create the body in it. I’m not sure if I screwed something up in the cut, or is my yard is too bendy and doesn’t tension it enough. When I have the full sail flying it seems to be just fine, but once i put in a reef, i lose a great deal of windward ability and my non-professional sailmakers skills are really put to shame.

**alzuger** · 7th August 2012, 03:27 PM

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYHiET0ACNs]Sailing 8 4 12 - YouTube[/ame]

Here is a vid.

Hope to have more up in the coming weeks

Cheers,

Al

**robhosailor** · 7th August 2012, 06:40 PM

Looks great! Thanks for pics and video!

**Boatmik** · 7th August 2012, 09:07 PM

I did some experimenting with AlexN's izracer/PDRacers lugsail on his launch day.

A loose outhaul to get about 1 in 10 depth in the foot of his sailing, which is about right for good performance helps the leach to set better too.

MIK

**Boatmik** · 7th August 2012, 09:12 PM

I did some experimenting with AlexN's izracer/PDRacers lugsail on his launch day.

A loose outhaul to get about 1 in 10 depth in the foot of his sail, which is about right for good performance helps the leach to set better too.

MIK

**davlafont** · 7th August 2012, 10:14 PM

Welcome back Al, Formerly of Brooklyn! Great to see you out on the water, even without any internationally known iconic landmarks in the background.

You gotta work on that "boss" some more. Surely your creative juices needs the sort nurturing that comes from a fresh breeze and spray in the face. And when are you going to make an honest girl of that boat and give her a name? Maybe a piece of jewelry?

Good luck sorting out the sail. You made it; you can make it better.

From your video it looks like you can position yourself closer to the middle seat for better hull trim. Do you have a tiller extension?

I look forward to your reports from Boston...

**alzuger** · 8th August 2012, 01:28 AM

And when are you going to make an honest girl of that boat and give her a name?

Hi Dave,

I actually finally do have a name for her. It took a while for the right one to come along, but she is henceforth know as Nereid. Now to get the lettering on the transom...

From your video it looks like you can position yourself closer to the middle seat for better hull trim. Do you have a tiller extension?

When I am sailing i am always much further forward, these were an exception so i could take the pics from a controlled and safe place while steering with my elbow and sheeting with my teeth. It is a wonder i didn't go over.

Usually I am standing just behind the center seat, or on the rail with my stern toe under one of the hiking straps and my bow foot hooked under the center thwart. Steering from forward like this i think i'd like to do like Christophe did and rebuild my tiller an extra 12" or so longer. I am pretty much always single handing and as such sitting well forward, and I've noticed that the tiller can be a pain to control with the extension stretched out so straight.

I did some experimenting with AlexN's izracer/PDRacers lugsail on his launch day.

A loose outhaul to get about 1 in 10 depth in the foot of his sailing, which is about right for good performance helps the leach to set better too.

G'day MIK,

Thanks for the advice! I'll try loosening up the outhaul next time I'm out. (hopefully weekend after next) I'm pretty sure I've got it cranked way down too hard if i'm suposed to start loose. I actually need to do do a little bit of reorganizing Re: the outhaul and reefing setup on the sail anyway. I managed to wear some holes in the sail the day after I took these pics out alone in 15kts. I had a reef in but wasn't paying enough attention and got the extra sail pinched between the boom and mast. Oops!

Oh well, we can rebuild her... we can make her stronger.

Happy sailing,
-Al

**callsign222** · 8th August 2012, 02:44 AM

A Greek Sea Nymph!

I love it! Nice choice. I'm a big fan of Poseidon and his chickas, myself.

Glad to see you on the water again, brobrah.

I will second the less-outhaul-when-reefed is better approach, though you may have to experiment with different reefs and different conditions.

**Boatmik** · 8th August 2012, 03:07 PM

But with outrageous amounts of downhaul unless very underpowered.

MIK (sounding like a broken record)

**woodeneye** · 10th August 2012, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by alzuger

Here is a vid.

Hope to have more up in the coming weeks

Cheers,

Al

Hi Al, all the best for your new venture.

What's the go with your keyhole video?

**alzuger** · 11th August 2012, 03:14 AM

Hi Al, all the best for your new venture.

What's the go with your keyhole video?

Oh oops, yeah that. The vid was taken with my iphone and that was the aspect ratio. I need to check and see if there is a not widescreen option cause it does look pretty wierd when flipped vertically.

I'm a n00b with these things.

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