Scout - Working It All Out

I am striving to not just mindlessly go back and forth across a body of water in Scout when I sail her. I am trying to discipline myself to watch what I am doing...analyze it....change it up...and see what works and what doesn't, watching boatspeed and pointing angles closely.  The more time I have in her the easier it gets to start to do that. Initially I was more concerned with how stable she was..(i.e. "I was a little skittish") and whether or not I could get her to sail effectively on all points of sail (i.e... get her to go where I want, when I want).  I'm pretty comfortable now that she is pretty darn stable...and I can get her to go where I want.  Now comes hours and hours of sailing, analyzing and tweaking things to try to get the most out of her...and me.

I took a portable GPS the other day and used it to obtain Course over Ground information to try and decipher what kind of tacking angles I could get.  I am going to hold off on my judgement about this. 1. I am still learning this boat and sail rig and am sure that as I learn what she likes I can get better...and 2.  The tacking angles I have witnessed so far....lead me to doubt my results. LOL  Suffice it to say...I could not believe the numbers I was seeing the other day in 15 knots of wind.  The wind WAS shifty...so I am going with the fact that I had to have tacked on every header, even though that was not my intent. If I go out again with similar results I will report them...and you can be as flabbergasted as I was.  Remember ...Scout's bottom is FLAT...no keel, no centerboard.

Along with learning the boat comes customizing it to fit my tastes with gear and equipment that suits me and my style. I've added a few pieces of gear so far ...all experimental and none necessarily permanent.

Anchor light and Anemometer Cups

1. I installed a "mini-amp mega light" anchor light on the masthead. This actually will be permanent. This is and LED anchor lite that draws practically no amps and also has a photo electric switch to turn off automatically as the sun comes up. Since it pulls almost no amps the wiring is extremely lightweight.  As long as Scout is not powered by a motor I can get away with one white light....although eventually I want to be able to use my 2hp outboard...and then we will need full running lights.

Bicycle Computer reads out windspeed

2. I installed an "InSpeed" anemometer. This is a gee wiz toy...not necessary, but fun. It requires no external power and uses a LCD bicycle computer for the readout.  It gives me current windspeed, max windspeed, and average windspeed since it was last reset.  Works pretty well at speeds over 2-3 mph.




 

3. Last time out my "yulohing" was not the best. It was breezy, I was in a tight area of the marina and after

pushing off from the dock,  numerous power boats crowded in near me. The wind was a crosswind and I needed forward speed to clear the area before being blown down onto a dock.  In my hastiness...I kept getting out of sync with the "falling leaf" stroke and lifting the leading edge of the yuloh, which in turn would cause the yuloh to lift off the pin. It was a pain and nearly caused me a big  headache.  I ended up using the Yuloh like an oar for a minute or two just to get clear. I made it..but it was not fun...and definitely not pretty. 

So I fabbed up a little temporary deal I can slide over the yuloh pin that will let me run a bungee over the yuloh and secure it from lifting...I think!  LOL  I have yet to try this but will next time out. It is easy to put the little bungee on and off , taking only a second or two to push/pull it over the brass balls. Will it work? Don't know yet!  If not I can remove it and throw it away, no harm no foul. 

4. The mainsheet started twisting on me causing a ton of friction when sheeting in and out. The line itself was getting twists in it and the end of the line was secured with a bowline to a padeye on the transom. As such...the twists could not work their way out f the line...and was causing the two legs of the mainsheet that traverse from the port and starboard sides of the transom to the end of the boom to twist up badly. To attempt a remedy I now am tying the bowline to a snapshackle I had on hand with a rotating head. I think that if this will swivel freely it will allow the twists in the line itself to work out and alleviate the two legs of the mainsheet from twisting themselves like a cinnamon twist.  If not, I will change the block at the end of the boom with a non swivel block to help keep the lines from twisting as well.

5. Windex.  I need a wind indicator for upwind work.  From advice given to me by the guru of Layden designs (next to Matt Layden himself), Dave Bolduc... I moved forward in the cabin when working upwind to drive the bow deeper into the water..and kept the boat flatter than in my recent video. When doing so...I can see out the windshield looking forward easily. If I lean back I can look up through the window in the sliding  hatch....but not as easily as out the forward window. So ..I am going to temporarily attach a windex up by the bow where I can see if out the front window and see how I like it up there. I used a ribbon last time out....but it kept tangling and wasn't much help.

Hope to get out on Scout tomorrow. Light winds predicted (click here) with heavier winds over the weekend.  Light winds for tomorrow would be good for me to get some Yuloh practice in before the bigger winds on Sat.  (I gotta work Thurs/Fri).

On the 18th I am planning my first over-nighter sailing about 40-50 miles or so (depending on wind direction). This will be with no motor and the longest sail I have attempted sans motor in Scout.  Between now and then I have some practice to get in!