Sunday 10/14/2012 - Oceanside

Solo sail out of Oceanside. Three and half hours sailing - seems to be consistent with the past few sails. Winds were better today. Blowing over 10mph with gusts 15-20? Force 4-5. I did not initially fill the ballast. Motored out to the basin to hoist the main. While motoring out I noticed the strength of the wind, which I should have noticed earlier! I sailed with jib and mizzen for a few laps of the basin. First time on jib and mizzen only. Sustained speed of approx 3 knots. Felt good and under control. Filled water ballast and hoisted main to go outside the basin. Good speeds here, the first hour or so my average speed was 5.1 knots on the GPS. I tried feathering into and off the wind to reduce load on the mast which worked well. The boat accelerated well when brought to a good point of sail. Exciting. 6.2 knots top speed on GPS. Pretty good with full ballast tank. Sustained over 5 knots most of the time. Average speed today of 4.8. Distance 14 miles. Entry back into the harbor was squirrely. Wind was directly on the nose going in. I had to set up the entry by maneuvering for position outside to set up a good tack through the breakwater. Waves at the breakwater were choppy. I was going to try and hook up with some folks from HPPC. They are bringing a boat from San Diego to Ventura. I missed them as I was off the water by 4pm and they did not arrive until 6pm. The sail temporary fix with the tape held up OK. I will need to file down the gooseneck on the boom as it still wore a hole through the tape. I may even need to wrap some rigging tape around the sharp parts. Good news is that I was able to harbor furl my main once back in the basin. Was a little dodgy due to the strength of the wind. It was blowing well and caught the sail and almost blew me over. Once I had half the sail furled, it was much easier. I tied it up to the mast to motor back into the dock. I am staying head to wind, hove to, much better now. Using the mizzen and furling the jib. Played with the rollers a little more to get the winch out smoother. I just need to adjust the PVC tube on the side out a little and all should be good. Well, I may play with the rollers again if I can figure out anything better.