The Rig Part 2

During 2006 I was just getting to grips with how the rig worked.... The plan for 2007 was to understand and maximise the potential.
When the mast was first stepped I took no great interest in tuning it's position - honestly not aware of any great potential. The first trips of the season were not awe inspiring! She seemed hard to hold on to the wind - indeed she showed all the upwind performance of a tumble-weed. At first I put this down to the dreadful state of the sail.
Thankfully, a cock-up allowed me to examine this! I made the fatal mistake of losing the halyard up the mast.... With a knot on the end - which jammed about half-way up! This led to a frustrating day de-masting and figuring a solution. Threaded M5 rod, in 1 meter lengths, joined together with threaded sleeves. Pushed from the top of the mast, after removing the top-cap, until the knot was released.
Upon raising the mast I found that the lower bearing housing/mast-step has about 20 cm of fore-aft travel. So, I shoved the mast all the way back ( mast-step all the way forward) and bolted everything up. Then took her sailing.... Now she points!

While it is fun to own an old boat, it is even more fun to own an old fast boat. Ljungström boats were renowned for their speed... But how fast is she? Being a traditionalist I hated the idea of drilling a hole in her for a log. And trailing logs are for blue water... So, the solution needed to be high-tech - a GPS.
Reaching had a max speed for the season of 7.4 knots. Close-hauled only 7.3 knots. But running with both sails out ( on an albeit scary day! ) gave 11.7 knots. This in a boat that has a LOA of 6.8m, and LWL of under 5m.... I guess she planes!

So, she floated after a while. One thing that has been good about her sinking at first is that the top-sides took up as well. This made the season particularly dry inside. 2006 was a very dry summer and Dobra wasn't used much early in the year. Daylight was visible through the seams of the freeboard.
2007 was a good summer for wooden boats - not too hot, a good bit of rain... And some time to use one!

The advantage of owning a small boat with an easy rig, is the ability to take her out for short trips. I take advantage of this, and enjoy many evening sails; often alone with a good bottle of beer.

But we did manage some voyaging. Taking trips to join friends and generally messing about in the boat.

Eventually the season drew to a close, and I elected to take the boat out late ( for people outside of sweden I will describe how our club works in a separate post ).