25 April 2006

New Sails Again

There are a few seminal moments in a man's life: the birth of a child, the realization that somebody will pay you to work, getting married, and most importantly - new sails. I'm there again, with a whole new world open to me now that I have some fancy new sails.

Crispy and clean, no caffeine.





First and most important thing, notice how slack the dock lines are in the jib photo...the boat was straining to go forward. We were sailing at the dock!

And in the mainsail photo, the ratty halyard flowing in the breeze belongs to my decrepit neighbor. I've always been taught to never let go of a halyard but it turns out they don't go flying up the mast, they can be there within reach if your boat is enough of a mess.

My sailmaker, I won't identify him but he has an unpronounceable dutch name and is with the Alameda North Sails loft, absolutely rocked. He took the time to make sure everything fit, explained all of the myriad little adjustments possible (batten tensioners?!?), and went through some of the finer points of sail trim that I'd find with the particular sail cut. He even took the time to compliment me on the fine choice of running rigging and mainsheet hardware.

Opening day is Sunday and I'm hoping to get some "boat formerly known as Sophica II" under sail photos. New sails, woohoohoo!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice threads for your boat.

You go Edward... fair winds...and kick the **** out of the competition... even on your pagan boat. :D

Tillerman said...

Still Sophica? I thought your daughter was going to choose a new name?

EVK4 said...

Edited to say "boat formerly known as Sophica II"

Anonymous said...

Couldn't find an email address for you, but thought you might enjoy this -- Gulf Coast sailing...

www.regattadiaries.blogspot.com

Litoralis said...

Nice looking sails. It's convenient that your slip is angled perfectly for closehauled sail testing.

EVK4 said...

We were a bit too into the wind for the jib so I had to drag the stern over a few degrees but I agree there are a TON of great uses for an upwind slip. And the 6% surcharge for that luxury.