Groovy, groovy, Groovejet

[Neil C.]

Groovejet 2631, finally made it out onto the water at Derwent yesterday with her new big rig and asymmetric conversion. We had a great time blatting up and down in the sunshine for about an hour and a half in 2-sail mode. Things mostly seemed to be working well, the rig is well balanced and we were getting up some good speed. We then went for the hoist. The kite went up OK and we had a fantastic run down the lake with a few gybes thrown in. When it came time to drop it though, we had the most amazing mother of all snarl-ups. The kite got jammed half up and half down, wouldn't budge in either direction, sheets under the hull and a huge mass of knotted rope on the cockpit floor! Meg saved the day by standing up on the foredeck and untying the halyard from the top of the sail. So, it needs a bit of work, but basically a very successful outing.

[Torchy]

Fantastic Neil...brilliant weather.

Did you spot where the snarl up was?

[Neil C.]

Did you spot where the snarl up was?

I set the kite system up exactly the same as we had on Born Slippy, but the difference is that BS had a tunnel which kept the bowsprit and the control lines separate. I think the inner end of the bowsprit collected a bit of kite halyard on the way back in, and delivered it to an intimate party with the inner end of the spinnaker tack line, the bowsprit launch line and the tail of the mainsheet. Needs a bit of tweaking.

[Torchy]

 

[phil_kirk]

A pole sock perhaps?

But well done for getting on the water after all your work.  That first sail is always really satisfying what ever happens.