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Went over to the club and took the original seat (white) to the workshop. Surprise, the white is only 1220 mm long (roughly the width of our hulls) unlike the 1500 mm one I carry on the Sprite. The white … Continue reading
Took the blue Monaco 2427 out for a sail this afternoon. With 3 to 4 Bft wind, water temperature 16°C, air 17°C. Me in a dry suit and all was perfect so we were good to go.
I am starting to get the hang of sailing the Monaco with a sliding seat and it’s so much more comfortable compared to having to hike out in the footstraps. Finally I can enjoy sailing upwind whilst keeping the boat level without the well filling up.
Flipping it over to a different course elegantly is a different matter, but I am sure this will improve. Eventually.
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 