Snapped off sliding seat

This assembly had to snap sooner or later didn’t it? Look at the picture above. The leverage is straining the seat tray way to much.
And it snapped all right. I gave the Meson for a spin into the hands of a young Europe Moth racing sailor and she sailed it back home with a broken seat ten minutes after she left.
Just in case, the Meson I talk about here below.

Genuine dinghy racers roll tack the boat and throw themselves to the windward side of the boat, hooking into the hiking straps (I don’t). With no hiking straps and only the seat to rely on my dear young friend threw her on the extended seat that then gave way.
…
I guess she sailed all right and I made a faulty seat.
A better seat for a Meson would be a straight plank like this one:

http://minisail.org.uk/minisail/examples/Homebuilt-composite-hull.jpg

As I will need the item for the Minisail gathering 2018 at S.C. Bowmoor it’s now repaired. Probably to be modified to fit the Sprite later on. For the Meson a better and even more simple plank will have to be made.

Anyone still reading? Thank you and how about this:
Would an inverted sliding seat be any good? It might not be, then again it looks all right, anything inverted does. I might make one.

To be continued!

Keyhaven Kruise 2017

Our English mates from the Minisail owners club David A. and Tom M.once again organised a lovely weekend of sailing and staying at Keyhaven.
The warm welcome and hospitality from the Keyhaven Scouts and the Hurst castle sailing club we know but the feelgood experience is one that doesn’t wear.

Sailing out from the beach towards open water tacking along in a channel between three lines of moored yachts is challenging and good fun.
Spring tide was on our side and gradually the estuary opend up for us to play and sail quarter miles back and forth on the plank; With a shiftless 18 to 20 knots wind, the conditions couln’t be better.

Venturing further on toward Hurst Casle tacking along moored yachts I went in the water. Nothing bad but my drysuit unzipped rendered me soon as a helpless lame duck in a water-filled +70 kg suit. The situation was heary and I got slightly hurt during the recovery.

No matter, it was a good sociable event and we returned with good memories and stories to tell.

Keyhaven 2018, I look forward to it.

All is well

Not really on a global scale but it’s well in my boating micro-environment, indeed a bit of a nuisance for this blog: not much to report about.
Meson 2287 is now water tight, the centerboard slot gasket is a fine addition, and she goes like the clappers once the wind picks up. Mind she’s a handful to keep upright in shifty conditions. In 4+Bf she sails best with the centerboard half-way down and that’s not a lot to dampen any heel. Add to that the light weight (hardly no inertia moment at all) and the plank acrobatics.
Picture following: Nice run upwind riding the plank 1/2 extended. A wind shift forces to let go the main and slide in gently and rapidly both together. By the time you recover balance the following shift kicks in and blows you over. That had me swimming a few times.
This part of the learning curve now mastered (well a bit) I am confident the little witch has some more tricks to throw me off I need to find out about.

Let’s hope for a not too cold winter so I can get her out plenty before the next season begins.
Some weeks ago the Merlin Rocket 2482 and Minisail 9000 were out together on the pond. With hardly any wind we at least had the time to take a picture.
(MS 9000 had the plank removed for that day and somehow didn’t carry the right sail.)

It’s blue II

With the hull the right way up, the amount of blue surface is pleasingly less prominent. Good, it looks fine now.
Notice the aluminum bumperstrip added. I wasn’t going to at first but after only six or seven days sailing the unprotected bow had taken a good beating. The bumper should take care of that.
The leaks at the transom have been taken care of, some dents and bruises were buffed out, the split sliding seat base is mended (happened when trying to roll over the hull not knowing the seat extended).
She’ll be fine for next weekend.

It’s blue

Ah well, could be worse.
Beside the painting, the gunwale and transom seams were sealed. The centerboard case needs to be checked for leaks.
Then she’ll be as good as new … once more.

The Meson at Staunton Harold

All images courtesy R.Baker

At Staunton Herald things are well organised, sailing’s only allowed when the green flag is up. And at about 6 P.M. it went up on Friday evening. For Friday evening clubsailing… How I love this and just cannot imagine this kind of discipline would get installed in clubs in Belgium.
I rigged the boat and got out in the midsummer sun (and a gentle breeze) on the lake to discover it along with some other plankers, the lovely TOY playing along.
Half an hour later I came back in and heard water slashing in the hull when pulling it up a trolley. Quite a lot of water in the hull there.
It didn’t take a drop in Ostend or Wormer.

The 760 km on the trailer between Wormer and Staunton Harold must have shaken the old hull and opened some seams.
And it did fill up really good since I saw the bow submarining on the last race downwind course day two second race. Never had that with a boat before.

Still it was fun to sail and not a big issue, I’ll waterproof the cigarbox. A bit disappointing it sank during a Nationals yes.

Different issue and completely my fault was losing the centerboard all together during race two of day one.
The item freed itsself from the c.b. king-pin (because I didn’ secure it) and slid away trough the c.b.slot happily knocking the hull. I managed to pull it back to into place again after a while, but by then the race had ended.
As also by then the wind was gone, luckily the gentle rescue-people towed me in.

So really the first attempt racing the Meson wasn’t flawless, still I love sailing it, and as usual: room for improvement.

All images courtesy R.Baker

Second attempt with the Meson

But it didn’t work.
Arriving at the club this morning I found out it was occupied by a triathlon circus – no club facilities for the members, everything reserved for the triathlon intruders – so I had to return home.

Anyway I made a non-skid floor: two battens and some strips of abrasive tape glued in. (Very abrasive, I recon its grid 60. Hope I don’t fall on the strips, this would eat some skin or wetsuit no doubt)
Next time also I will be using the mast that came with it. It is after all 100 mm longer than the one from Minisail 9000, and I think it will be a gain in comfort during maneuvering with the boom 10 cm higher up.

Oh and yes, I’ll paint the hull. The Mrs thinks the scruffy look doesn’t do justice to the lovely old wooden boat. She might be right (and it needs at least one other coat anyway).

Meson 2287 first sail (in Ostend)

Went out to sail the Meson for a first time this afternoon; It went fine.

Would have been happy with less than 13 to 15 knots to try out the unfamiliar and freshly refurbished boat but it didn’t rain and the wind was warm coming from South; Things could be worse.
Basically the rigging of the Meson is quite identical to my other boats so little surprises there – Except for the few odd bits of string missing on the new sail ,with some improvisation that was easily fixed.

First impression of the boat unmanned on the water: it doesn’t keep it’s balance and falls over. My Monaco’s and Sprites did behave better on that aspect but would this be a good sign? I see moored light racing dingies tipping over all the time, hence would this be a sign of racing pedigree?

Close hauled went surprisingly effortless but during the first seconds of sailing I soon felt no grip at all anywhere for the feet. A slippery floor and no edges to brace against. So I couldn’d move to a good position on the seat and sit out properly.

Beam reaching (with a brand new sail!) in 4Bft was fun. Instant lift off and enjoy the ride. Spray as much as you can handle, this is a very wet boat.

On one occasion I stopped to get the main sheet sorted and unwillingly the boat got head into wind … not easy to get out of. I suddenly remembered my days with the Monaco with the same veed hull. The flat bottom ones recover far more easy.

So in all yes this is a good Minisail variant: It’s light, doesn’t drag it’s tail in the water (so I won’t need to mount transom flaps), it has a cockpit and seat, it flushes any water coming in out and it’s wooden: Perfect!

Next weekend we’ll be saliling the Europeans in Wormer Holland.
UPDATE 22 May: the Europeans in Wormer will be 11-12 June (not 28-29 May)
Will have to mend the slippery cockpit, but once that’s done I will have a fine Minisail to do well there.