Tim and I have been watching the wind predictions on Windguru for Larnaca all week. Earlier in the week it was showing strong winds so I had suggested calling off sailing today. Yesterday, however, the prediction showed the wind abating somewhat down to 12-15 knots, so we decided that we would have a go.
Crew today was Tim, me, Jacob, Dave and Yanis. When we got to King Malu the wind felt a bit more than 12-15 knots. Looking on the wind meter it was showing 15 and up to 20 knots... which looked OK though so we thought we would still go out. We would use a small amount of genoa and a mizzen sail to hold her steady.
The wind was from the north so getting out from the berth was non-trivial but Tim managed that manoeuvre pretty neatly. I was at the stern watching to fend off the boat behind us, but King Malu came back gently and the bow thruster pushed her round.
As soon as we are moving I insisted the crew get their lifejackets on. Normal practice on King Malu is to put life jackets on as soon as we leave the marina, but not until we are outside. Today with the wind the way it is I want people wearing them earlier.
So why don't we put them on as soon as we board? If you fall in they will self-inflate, pretty much instantly. If you are manoeuvring close to another boat and have someone in the water with an inflated life jacket, that person cannot dive down to avoid getting squashed. This actually happened to Tim once so it is a very real possibility.
Anyhow... we came round into the main channel with no problem, then headed out of the marina... white horses everywhere. 28 knots wind from the North. Tim handed the helm over to me and I pushed out into the chop.
Sorry, let's try that again I try to push out and then hit the chop and the 20 HP Honda outboard didn't make headway against this chop at all. Full throttle, no movement - partly due to cavitating, partly due to lack of power because of propellor position. Anyway there was no way we were going to make it so I turned back for the marina and handed the helm back to Tim to get ready for berthing.
But... we didn't turn and the waves were now driving us onto the sea wall protecting the marina. Tim had the outboard full in reverse but to now avail we were edging slowly towards the marina wall...
So I said we would just have to use the genoa and sail ourselves off. We have ordered new suite of sails including new furlex, but that won't be here for a while, so we're still on the old cranky furler... which jammed! So I rushed forward to try and unjam it, to see that the rope holding the furler in place had totally jammed up the furler. I did what I could and ran back to the cockpit to get the safety knife to cut the snagged rope.
We're now about 3 metres from the sea wall...
I must have un-done it enough as a couple of metres of the genoa came out and pushed us round. We were back-winding the genoa like we do to help turn us when tacking. Much more power in the small bit of genoa than a bow thruster!
So we headed back to the berth. We have this extremely awkward berth to get into and out of so either I helm and Tim is at the bow directing or the other way around. Today since he was helming I was at the bow directing.
Coming into the berth, with the wind from the North just makes it even worse as all the boats are pushed together and you have to squeeze them apart to get in. I pointed one way, I hear the bow thruster going, but we're not moving the right direction!
A very small pocket of the genoa had not furled back correctly so we are still sailing. Tim told me later he had the motor full in reverse and we were still moving towards the quayside! We eventually get all the lines attached and refurl the genoa.
Interesting experience and showed everything worked as it should (the theory at least) but also the importance of checking your genoa is running free before you even leave your berth. Of course, even testing beforehand, it could still jam when you need it.
We then went off to the club for a coffee. Yanis, who sails quite a lot, said it was interesting watching us, because we all moved so fast in that situation - each regular crew member doing what's needed. That is because we are all dinghy sailors who have moved up to yachts.
He also mentioned that safety is one of the things he sees as very important to us on our yacht. Too true!
Sorry, no, we don't have any photos of this as it was all a bit to quick to stop and take snaps.
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