Night Cap delivery cruise from Hawkesbury to Crookhaven
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 9:35 amSmall cruise for a Top Hat 25 yacht, but giant leap for Gerard who has mainly sailed dinghies previously!
Day 1 - 22/6/2018
John and I set off early from Parsley Bay on the Hawkesbury and headed south once we got offshore. Although a previous weather forecast had predicted westerlies, the wind was actually from due south so we decided to motor rather than spend all day tacking. The swell was around 2 metres, so the boat rolled quite a bit, but after a while we put up the main and sheeted the traveler all the way to starboard (wind was slightly west of due south). This made the boat much more stable, and then we raised the number 2 genoa. I made all the typical rookie mistakes like trying to raise the mainsail with the mainsheet still on tight, forgetting to tighten the topping lift, etc. John, in his infinite wisdom decided not to point out my errors and let me work them out myself (cursing and swearing) as I would be sailing solo the next few days. John had been suffering from a crook back with the boat rocking and rolling and I was feeling quite sea-sick from going forward to wrestle with the sails - two old men in a boat! The wind turned a bit more westerly later in the morning and we even switched off the motor for a couple of hours which was glorious compared to the song of the 2 stroke amplified by its surroundings in the cockpit well.
We made it through the heads into Sydney Harbour and dodged the ferries and the fast ferries and arrived at Manly where I was planning to spend the night on a courtesy mooring. We were running low on petrol and the map suggested there would be petrol at nearby Davis Marina. No such luck. We were given the usual conflicting advice from several different locals as to where to find the nearest petrol, but John rang the CYC and confirmed that self serve credit card petrol was available at Rushcutters Bay. This is where John abandoned ship and headed back to his warm comfortable home, leaving me to my cup of soup dinner. I found a courtesy mooring at Watson’s Bay, and after settling in I understood the significance of the boat’s name - I definitely needed a nightcap at the end of this day.
Day 2 - 23/6/2018
Still a big swell, but at least the wind was much more from the west, so I lashed the tiller and put up both sails (racing back to the cockpit at regular intervals to curse and adjust the tiller, forgetting that I was tethered to jack-points and cursing the “positive” locking clips). She sailed beautifully and was making over 4 knots, so no noisy, smokey, petrol-gobbling gremlin required. The wind steadily increased and Night Cap steadily heeled more and more so I decided to reef the main. I thought I would also practice heaving to at the same time as I had read all the theory, but never actually tried it. Heaving to was a total failure. I tacked and did not loosen the jib sheet on the new leeward side (like the book says), however the boat just kept heading away from the wind on the new tack, propelled by the genoa which had billowed out onto the windward side, blanketing the main which was doing nothing to try to balance the boat back towards the wind. I gave up and let out the jib sheet and started the motor and did the “lashed tiller / hooking and unhooking tether” dance once again while reefing. In hindsight, I think I failed to tighten the jib sheet enough when moving from beam reach to close reach before tacking, and I also panicked and backed out early before waiting for the boat to move far enough off the wind on the new side for the main to start balancing the genoa.
There is only one reefing line, so John and I configured it for the second reefing points. The only problem is that the sail slides on the mast track don’t allow the reef cringle to be pulled anywhere near the boom, so it ended up being about a one and a half reef instead. I need to look into getting a mast gate to allow the slides to move much further down. Night Cap was much easier to handle reefed and we were making good progress, up to 5 knots on occasion. Saw a whale off Botany Bay and got to Port Hacking by mid afternoon. My nightcap on Night Cap was well earned at the end of that day.
I’ll continue the trip report tomorrow as there are 3 more days to cover.
Day 1 - 22/6/2018
John and I set off early from Parsley Bay on the Hawkesbury and headed south once we got offshore. Although a previous weather forecast had predicted westerlies, the wind was actually from due south so we decided to motor rather than spend all day tacking. The swell was around 2 metres, so the boat rolled quite a bit, but after a while we put up the main and sheeted the traveler all the way to starboard (wind was slightly west of due south). This made the boat much more stable, and then we raised the number 2 genoa. I made all the typical rookie mistakes like trying to raise the mainsail with the mainsheet still on tight, forgetting to tighten the topping lift, etc. John, in his infinite wisdom decided not to point out my errors and let me work them out myself (cursing and swearing) as I would be sailing solo the next few days. John had been suffering from a crook back with the boat rocking and rolling and I was feeling quite sea-sick from going forward to wrestle with the sails - two old men in a boat! The wind turned a bit more westerly later in the morning and we even switched off the motor for a couple of hours which was glorious compared to the song of the 2 stroke amplified by its surroundings in the cockpit well.
We made it through the heads into Sydney Harbour and dodged the ferries and the fast ferries and arrived at Manly where I was planning to spend the night on a courtesy mooring. We were running low on petrol and the map suggested there would be petrol at nearby Davis Marina. No such luck. We were given the usual conflicting advice from several different locals as to where to find the nearest petrol, but John rang the CYC and confirmed that self serve credit card petrol was available at Rushcutters Bay. This is where John abandoned ship and headed back to his warm comfortable home, leaving me to my cup of soup dinner. I found a courtesy mooring at Watson’s Bay, and after settling in I understood the significance of the boat’s name - I definitely needed a nightcap at the end of this day.
Day 2 - 23/6/2018
Still a big swell, but at least the wind was much more from the west, so I lashed the tiller and put up both sails (racing back to the cockpit at regular intervals to curse and adjust the tiller, forgetting that I was tethered to jack-points and cursing the “positive” locking clips). She sailed beautifully and was making over 4 knots, so no noisy, smokey, petrol-gobbling gremlin required. The wind steadily increased and Night Cap steadily heeled more and more so I decided to reef the main. I thought I would also practice heaving to at the same time as I had read all the theory, but never actually tried it. Heaving to was a total failure. I tacked and did not loosen the jib sheet on the new leeward side (like the book says), however the boat just kept heading away from the wind on the new tack, propelled by the genoa which had billowed out onto the windward side, blanketing the main which was doing nothing to try to balance the boat back towards the wind. I gave up and let out the jib sheet and started the motor and did the “lashed tiller / hooking and unhooking tether” dance once again while reefing. In hindsight, I think I failed to tighten the jib sheet enough when moving from beam reach to close reach before tacking, and I also panicked and backed out early before waiting for the boat to move far enough off the wind on the new side for the main to start balancing the genoa.
There is only one reefing line, so John and I configured it for the second reefing points. The only problem is that the sail slides on the mast track don’t allow the reef cringle to be pulled anywhere near the boom, so it ended up being about a one and a half reef instead. I need to look into getting a mast gate to allow the slides to move much further down. Night Cap was much easier to handle reefed and we were making good progress, up to 5 knots on occasion. Saw a whale off Botany Bay and got to Port Hacking by mid afternoon. My nightcap on Night Cap was well earned at the end of that day.
I’ll continue the trip report tomorrow as there are 3 more days to cover.
