Fine Weather and First Outing
"We've been sent good weather" - yes indeed we have! Not 24 hours after relocating Aurora from Granville Island did the gloomy weather break into brilliant, crystal clear blue skies. The temperatures plummeted accordingly, but the sunshine the past week has been absolutely glorious. We couldn't have asked for better weather to get better acquainted with Aurora, and to start taking her out on some little "test drives". And, the location of the moorage is such that it gets the sun much later than most other places around here, so every afternoon we've been at the boat (which has been 6 out of the last 7 days!) we enjoy soaking up the sun in the toasty warm enclosed aft salon, and sit on the transom steps taking in the sunset. Not too shabby!
On Monday (Dec.3) our broker and one of the skippers who joined for the boat relocation came out to help us hoist the sails for the first time, and make sure all required systems were functioning correctly. Our friend "I" joined as well - he used to be a rigger in the movies and has extensive rope handling, knot tying and rigging (though not sail rigging) experience. He also just lives a short walk from the marina.
We had a bit of a delayed start, as the key to enter the boat was not hidden where it was supposed to be! I was the one to lock up the evening before, and have never misplaced a key, ever. Even "I" said, if the key is not where T would have put it, that means someone else moved it! After some minor panic on my end, it was determined that one of the guys working on the boat earlier in the morning (installing equipment on the mast that could only be put up after clearing under the bridge) had mistakenly left and driven off with it. He's been working on the boat for two months and is extremely conscientious, but he'd been rattled when he slipped on the heavy frost on the shaded side of the boat and taken a fall. Fortunately he realized he had the key and drove back, but our 10am start turned into noon. (and he's ok, smacked his hip pretty good but should only be bruised at worst) We do have a spare key, but it was at home. Anyways...
We untied the dock lines, disconnected the shore power, raised the fenders, started and tested the engines and bow thruster, and with the two professionals at the helm, pulled out of the marina. Once we were out in the open we raised the main sail, very grateful for the electric winch as once that sail gets 1/3 of the way up, it gets *heavy*! Heave ho indeed! The jib also released nice and easy, and with just enough wind to fill the sails, we motored up the inlet. We have friends that live on a very prominent point a few km's up, and every single time we boat past we make a beeline for their place before passing on. (We have a 14' RIB, kind of like a Zodiac, but with a catamaran-style tunnel hull) Sometimes they're home and we cruise up to shore and chat, and sometimes we've seen our friend landing his paraglider on the point in front of his parents home! With the big cat we can't get too close, but we're easier to spot from further out than in our little black and grey RIB. We could see them come out on their deck as we passed by, and continued north a little further before turning around. Back in the large bay by the marina, we lowered the main, furled the jib, and tested the anchor. Anchoring a catamaran is a bit different from anchoring a monohull, in that once the anchor is down, to prevent the boat from pivoting around the anchor rode and chafing against the hulls, a "bridle" is used to keep the anchor rode centred.
After lifting the anchor we motored back to the dock and tied up. Now it was time to test launching the tender! Our tender sits on a teak platform attached to the boat by two massive arms that lower and raise it. We refer to this as "the beach" - can you guess why?? Imagine it's a sweltering hot day...lower the beach into the water, disconnect the tender, tie it off elsewhere on the boat, raise the beach ever so slightly out of the water, and voila - swimming / sunbathing platform!
Now, after slogging around on a big ship all day, zipping around on a nimble little shoreline hugging tender is quite the thrill! A and I are pretty used to tiny boats, that's all we've ever known, but the fun never goes out of them. Well, until it's wet out, then they're pretty miserable places to be. So four of the five of us piled in and took her for a rip. The tricky part came when we came back. Getting the tender back on the cradle was no problem, but getting it lashed to the platform involves a bit of a trick, the number one factor of importance being make sure you know where your weight is so that you don't tip yourself into the water!!! A and "I" (not me, but our friend "I") were fastening the webbing and were leaning a wee bit too far toward the outside. The tender started to lean out of the cradle, and was just about to tip them into the drink, when they both lunged to the opposite side, seating the tender back into the cradle. Pfew, close call! Putting the cover back on proved arduous as well, some modifications need to be made to it. The cover for our little RIB goes on and off extremely easily, it uses shock cord and small brackets that clip onto a rubber overhang on the side of the pontoon; we'll have to get something like this installed. After getting the main sail tucked back in to the boom bag (big job!), we secured everything back in place and said good bye to the two pros. The sun had by now dipped well below the horizon, and the temperature was dropping below freezing. We tidied up a few things on the boat, and made our way home as well. A successful first outing!
Note on the photos: it's really hard to get photos of the boat with the sails up while on board! I'm sure there are some tricks to get some nice shots, I'll spend some time figuring them out in the summer when my fingers won't freeze operating a camera! I also didn't get any photos of launching the tender or operating the beach platform, as A and I were learning how to do it. I did get some nice photos from the dinghy, though. The sun was low and the quality of the light was just stunning.
On Monday (Dec.3) our broker and one of the skippers who joined for the boat relocation came out to help us hoist the sails for the first time, and make sure all required systems were functioning correctly. Our friend "I" joined as well - he used to be a rigger in the movies and has extensive rope handling, knot tying and rigging (though not sail rigging) experience. He also just lives a short walk from the marina.
We had a bit of a delayed start, as the key to enter the boat was not hidden where it was supposed to be! I was the one to lock up the evening before, and have never misplaced a key, ever. Even "I" said, if the key is not where T would have put it, that means someone else moved it! After some minor panic on my end, it was determined that one of the guys working on the boat earlier in the morning (installing equipment on the mast that could only be put up after clearing under the bridge) had mistakenly left and driven off with it. He's been working on the boat for two months and is extremely conscientious, but he'd been rattled when he slipped on the heavy frost on the shaded side of the boat and taken a fall. Fortunately he realized he had the key and drove back, but our 10am start turned into noon. (and he's ok, smacked his hip pretty good but should only be bruised at worst) We do have a spare key, but it was at home. Anyways...
We untied the dock lines, disconnected the shore power, raised the fenders, started and tested the engines and bow thruster, and with the two professionals at the helm, pulled out of the marina. Once we were out in the open we raised the main sail, very grateful for the electric winch as once that sail gets 1/3 of the way up, it gets *heavy*! Heave ho indeed! The jib also released nice and easy, and with just enough wind to fill the sails, we motored up the inlet. We have friends that live on a very prominent point a few km's up, and every single time we boat past we make a beeline for their place before passing on. (We have a 14' RIB, kind of like a Zodiac, but with a catamaran-style tunnel hull) Sometimes they're home and we cruise up to shore and chat, and sometimes we've seen our friend landing his paraglider on the point in front of his parents home! With the big cat we can't get too close, but we're easier to spot from further out than in our little black and grey RIB. We could see them come out on their deck as we passed by, and continued north a little further before turning around. Back in the large bay by the marina, we lowered the main, furled the jib, and tested the anchor. Anchoring a catamaran is a bit different from anchoring a monohull, in that once the anchor is down, to prevent the boat from pivoting around the anchor rode and chafing against the hulls, a "bridle" is used to keep the anchor rode centred.
After lifting the anchor we motored back to the dock and tied up. Now it was time to test launching the tender! Our tender sits on a teak platform attached to the boat by two massive arms that lower and raise it. We refer to this as "the beach" - can you guess why?? Imagine it's a sweltering hot day...lower the beach into the water, disconnect the tender, tie it off elsewhere on the boat, raise the beach ever so slightly out of the water, and voila - swimming / sunbathing platform!
Now, after slogging around on a big ship all day, zipping around on a nimble little shoreline hugging tender is quite the thrill! A and I are pretty used to tiny boats, that's all we've ever known, but the fun never goes out of them. Well, until it's wet out, then they're pretty miserable places to be. So four of the five of us piled in and took her for a rip. The tricky part came when we came back. Getting the tender back on the cradle was no problem, but getting it lashed to the platform involves a bit of a trick, the number one factor of importance being make sure you know where your weight is so that you don't tip yourself into the water!!! A and "I" (not me, but our friend "I") were fastening the webbing and were leaning a wee bit too far toward the outside. The tender started to lean out of the cradle, and was just about to tip them into the drink, when they both lunged to the opposite side, seating the tender back into the cradle. Pfew, close call! Putting the cover back on proved arduous as well, some modifications need to be made to it. The cover for our little RIB goes on and off extremely easily, it uses shock cord and small brackets that clip onto a rubber overhang on the side of the pontoon; we'll have to get something like this installed. After getting the main sail tucked back in to the boom bag (big job!), we secured everything back in place and said good bye to the two pros. The sun had by now dipped well below the horizon, and the temperature was dropping below freezing. We tidied up a few things on the boat, and made our way home as well. A successful first outing!
Note on the photos: it's really hard to get photos of the boat with the sails up while on board! I'm sure there are some tricks to get some nice shots, I'll spend some time figuring them out in the summer when my fingers won't freeze operating a camera! I also didn't get any photos of launching the tender or operating the beach platform, as A and I were learning how to do it. I did get some nice photos from the dinghy, though. The sun was low and the quality of the light was just stunning.
the "beach" platform is submerged in this photo, but if you look very close you can see the supporting arm for it near the port side. Notice how tall the top sides are - the man standing on dec is 6'4" and isn't even up on the main deck, that's a couple steps up still.
This photo was taken at the yacht show in Cannes last year. The left side of the platform is folded up, with the tender cradle pointing up in a 'V'. The right side of the platform is folded down, in "beach" mode. When that side is folded up the tender sits atop the cradles. To use it as a sunbathing / swimming platform, the tender is lowered into the water, tied off on the boat, and the two 'wings' of the platform folded down.
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