Monday, January 2, 2017

Boat Bling, or What Makes Sailors Smile

Our new windlass,  so shiny and new, is installed.
Our new chain, so shiny and new, is in the chain locker at the bow.
Our new sails, so white and new are furled nicely in their new homes on Rhapsody. 

Three days in a marina  ($$$) working every day to get it all accomplished, and we are now free! We leave the harbor and as soon as we can we raise the sails. Immediately we notice that they sound different from our old sails. They have a crisp sound to them, where our old sails sounded much swishier  (yes, that is a word- I  looked it up). They look beautiful,  so clean and taut in the wind. What a difference in speed as well. Today was a light breeze and yet we still were going faster than we ever had. It really must have been time to get new sails. We were headed toward a favorite bay/snorkeling spot, but it felt so good to be sailing well that we took extra time to just enjoy the sails.


All too soon it was time to head into the bay. Reluctantly we furled the sails and headed to our anchorage to test some more of our new equipment, namely our chain and our windlass. It seems a shame to expose them to the salt water and take some of the sheen off of them. Maybe we can just stay in marinas and polish them and admire them. 
OK - maybe not.

Old rusty chain

New shiny chain















Down went the anchor, down went the chain, the windlass performing beautifully - until the end. I try to stop the chain, and it will not stop. Actually it did stop, but only after 20 more feet played out.  I tried to retrieve the chain and it would not come up.  Did I mention that this was the same bay where the windlass failed previously?  Returning to the scene of the crime? Replaying history?  Fortunately Bob came up to the bow of the boat and recognized that he had not tightened the top of the windlass as tight as he could have because the instructions said to experiment with the final tensioning.  All gentleness aside he cranked on the winch handle and tightened things up. Problem solved.

Chain goes down. 
Chain stops.
Chain comes up.
As it should.
Relief.

So, for now, it appears that our major problems have been fixed. Looking forward to many happy hours of sailing to new places, having the freedom to anchor where we want, having the ability to leave when we want, and having the ability to repeat the whole process as desired.

Onward.

We love to hear your comments.

Tammy Swart said...

Nothing beats a new sail! It's nice when you spend money for something that's actually satisfying! Glad you got your windlass issues worked out as well... Hang out a little while longer, we're hoping weather will be kind enough to let us get over your way soon!

Sarah said...

Hope to see you soon!