This gallery contains 27 photos.
Last Sunday we had a club race. Because of a sudden lack of staff I was appointed racing officer of the day. A fun experience and I took my snapshot camera with me. Finally I could make some shots of … Continue reading
Last June, at Whitefriars David A. handed me a sliding seat for a Monaco that “quote: Was gathering dust anyway”.
Compared to the sliding seat I use on the Sprite this one is a featherweight and carefully engineered. My intention is to measure it (publish plans here) and to build a replica.
But it needed to be fitted and sailed with at least once. A sunny day with hardly any wind were the perfect conditions for such a test ride. (Looks like the wind knows I’ll be there with a new plank, remember the first time fitting the plank on the Sprite)
It’s a comfortable plank that slides without having to grab the strap, it moves along with the movement of the body.
And I noticed the plank was a welcome thing to sit on opposed to staying on the knees in the middle of the boat during windless weather.
The hectic times at work during the last months were the main reason why I hadn’t picked up Minisail 2427. But it’s home now (thank you Rupert and Dean). Took it out for a sail this afternoon. Wind 3 to 4 shifting madly at times. Going downwind with the wind indicator spinning 360 turns felt adventurous but it went fine (except for that first gibe where I managed to hook the main under the rear corner of the hull). I forgot how much easier tacking is in a Monaco compared to the flush decked Sprite. The sail is good, I chased a high pointing Europe-dingy and the Minisail could keep up with it, she chased me as well and was better on broad reaches. I think that was because I was quite static in the boat because of the slippery side decks. It’s a nice Monaco and will be perfect after fitting some non-skid padding on the side decks, have made the mast-head waterproof (mast rapidly fills up at capsize, making it harder to recover), and have found and mended the spots where water comes in: After a few hours of sailing several litres came out the hull, I suspect it’s the mastfoot. 
Building a wooden Minisail 