Back Home for a While

We put Mintaka to bed a few days ago, and drove back to Salt Lake.  I brought the usual mountain of projects to work on here in my shop, and to bring back up to Mintaka in a few weeks.  We probably won't be sailing her for the next few months, just preparing her more and more for departure to New Zealand next May.  That date doesn't seem so far away right now, and I still have a lot to do.  Stay tuned, though, as I'll post updates from time to time.

Chart Plotter & New Radar

We finally moved out of the 19th century on Mintaka -- we installed a chart plotter.  We've never had one before, and I never felt the need for one.  Still don't feel a need for it, but Garmin gave me such a good deal on one, along with a new radar, that I just couldn't refuse.  It's been fun playing with it the past month, and I have to admit that it's a nice tool -- really lessens the navigational workload.  I just hope I don't grow dependent on it, like so many others.  I think paper charts are nicer for planning, and for a larger view, and of course for greater accuracy and reliability, but the plotter is nice for moment-by-moment use in the cockpit.  I mounted it up under the new hardtop.  The new radar is also great.  It's a high definition digital unit, and the display is soooo much crisper than the ancient analog one.

Romp Across the Strait

We got what we asked for a few days ago, crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Twenty-plus knots of wind against a couple of knots of current raised a surprisingly nasty sea, giving us a good spanking.  But what a great, romping ride, close reaching at hull speed under only jib, staysail and mizzen, waves exploding on the bow sending spray everywhere.  I would have reduced sail further, with no loss of speed, except that I wanted to drive her as hard as possible that day -- a good test of the new rig.

She clearly prefers the new sail plan with the smaller, fractional jib; she points higher, drives harder, yet heels less.  The balance is a little different now with the smaller jib, so I'll probably reef the mizzen more often.  She is so easily driven, though, that that won't cost any speed.

We also got to use the topsail again for a bit before the wind piped up.  That is going to be a very useful sail.

Another high pressure is over us now here in Friday Harbor, with no wind to speak of for a few days, so it's back to doing chores.

Wooden Boat Festival

We've been anchored in Port Townsend, Washington, for the past week for the Wooden Boat Festival.  Robyn volunteered again this year, but I mainly did chores on the boat and socialized with old and new friends.  That's over now, so it's back to work on Mintaka.  We've been looking for a "small-boat advisory" to really test the new rig, and today we have it.  So, as soon as I finish this post, we're off to sail back across the Strait to the San Juan Islands.

Jib Topsail

We recently had a chance to experiment with the jib topsail, crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Not only does it look really cool, it flies well from a close reach to a broad reach, and pulls like a mule.  I am very excited to have this additional functionality on Mintaka.  I originally thought of making a light, nylon topsail for use as just a light-air sail, but now I think I will tweak the shape of this dacron one.  When I get it just right, I'll make a good, durable one to use most of the time.

We've been putting in long days for the past week, working on all sorts of projects, but we're finally ready to shove off and go sailing for a few weeks.  We'll be looking for wind, as much as we can find, to test the new rig and sail plan.  Wind is often hard to come by in the Northwest during the summer, but we'll be hanging out in the most likely areas:  the Strait of Juan de Fuca, along with Haro and Rosario Straits.  I'll post some photos along the way.

Redesigned Rig a Success!

We finally had the opportunity to go sailing with the new rig, and it is a great improvement.  Mintaka is a completely new boat.  She stands up to her sails better, drives harder and points closer on a beat.  Beating upwind in twenty knots, we not only didn't have to reef, we were positively enjoying the ride.  When we decided to change the sail plan from a masthead rig to the designer's original plan, a fractional rig, we knew we were sticking our necks out, putting a lot of money on our experience with the boat over the years.  Although Atkin originally called for a fractional rig like we have now, all the Ingrids we have ever seen have had masthead rigs.  Well, we feel really good about it now.  The two pictures here are in light wind - not very dramatic -  but they still show the different rig.  We still have a masthead stay, as well as the two fractional stays, so we can fly a third headsail in addition to the jib and staysail.  That would be a jib topsail, a light-air sail to go with the mizzen staysail.  So, now we have the capability of flying six different sails at once - mizzen, main, mizzen staysail, main staysail, jib and jib topsail.  We may never have the right conditions to fly them all together, but we have many options to meet the conditions we do find.

For a variety of reasons, we're going to keep Mintaka in Washington this winter, instead of moving her down to the Bay area.  We're still on track for heading off across the Pacific again next May, though.

Hard Top Installed on Mintaka

Here are a couple of pictures of the hard top installed on the boat. Another project done, but many more to follow.

Making a Hard-Top

Someone asked for more pictures, so here's a few about making a hard-top for the dodger. All the way across the Pacific to New Zealand, we had no dodger. I designed one, and had it made there for the return trip to Washington. It was great to have, but I decided to replace the canvas top with a hard one. Over the past few weeks, I've been working on it, and it's almost ready toinstall on our next trip soon.

I started by laminating a couple of 1/8" sheets to a curve I made.

Then I glued edging, boom chocks, and nav light bases on the top, and various pieces on the bottom for mounting and structure.

Finally came sealing with penetrating epoxy, and lastly, paint.

I still have to attach the awning track for the cockpit awning, and the grab rails that I made from a nice piece of jarrah. Incidentally, jarrah is a much better wood for boats than teak. It is at least as rot resistant, but it weathers much better and is significantly cheaper. I'll post a final picture in a couple of weeks when I install it on the boat.

Mintaka Swims Again!

After sixteen months on the hard in Port Townsend, Washington, and after far too much driving, effort, hassles, and money, Mintaka finally splashed on Feb 8, and is now tied up in her slip in Brinnon, Washington, on the Hood Canal. She has two new masts, one wood and the other aluminum -- a long, sad tale, best told over beer -- as well as all new wooden booms and rigging.

There are yet more projects to complete this summer before we go offshore again. One of those is the fabrication of a hard top for the dodger. As I get older, I place more value on staying dry while on watch. I had to wait for the rigging to be up to make sure of no conflicts with the main backstays, so that’s the project I’m working on now. I’ll post a photo when I install it in April.

As the mainmast is now a bit taller, we no longer fit under the Hood Canal bridge, so we had to have them open it for us. Quite the feeling of power! This next bit, though, you just won’t believe. The slip we were heading to used to be occupied by cruising friends that we met in New Zealand, and who now live in Hood River, Oregon. Well, Steve was one of the drivers that was stopped by the bridge opening, and he recognized us. He hadn’t been in the area in several years, and had no idea that we had launched and were motoring down to their old slip, and we had no idea that he was in the area. So, as we were sliding into our berth in Home Port Marina, there he was, ready to catch our mooring lines. If he had gotten to the bridge only a minute or two earlier, he would not have been stopped. Robyn and I have had many small-world experiences over the years, some of them truly amazing, but this one ranks right up there.

We are hoping to sail down the coast to San Francisco in early September, staging her there over the next winter for a May 2013 departure back to New Zealand. We’ll be sailing around the Northwest as much as we can this season, working out any kinks in the new rig, deciding on any sail changes, and finishing up remaining projects. I’ll update the blog much more frequently now that we’re operational again, so check in from time to time.