Big Blue ...

 The day of reckoning has arrived.  It’s time to see if all the planning, fabricating, re-rigging, etc. has paid off.  Today’s objective:  sail Sqoop upwind as a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, then convert on the water to a square-rigged vessel and sail downwind using her full-sized square sail.  First, I secured the yard-spar in place with the braces, then attached it to the batt-car/t-track assembly using a soft shackle:

Next, I attached the center of the square sail’s head to the yard-spar and attached the sheets and tacklines (foreguys) to the sail’s clews.  After making sure the sail wasn’t twisted, I shoved it all into a home-sewn sail bag for temporary storage.  The outer corners of the sail’s head (earrings) will be attached to the yardarms just before hoisting.

My first mate and I shoved off and motored out of the marina, heading into the wind:

We raised the mainsail, unfurled the Genoa and beat upwind for an hour on a close reach; what a glorious day to be on the water!  We tacked a few times to ensure the square rigging wouldn’t interfere with her ability to sail in a fore-and-aft configuration.  

Once we got up near Seward Park, the foresail was furled, the mainsail lowered & secured and we let the boat drift as we did the conversion.  The main halyard was reversed so it could now raise the yard-spar; how I wish the boat came with a third halyard!  The jib sheets were coiled forward on the bow pulpit to get them out of the way and the square sail’s sheets and tacklines were run through the appropriate blocks, line guides and cleats.  We didn’t bother attaching the running backstays since the winds were light.  Once all was set, we released the braces and hauled on the halyard; Big Blue flew successfully for the first time without incident!

We practiced trimming the sail by rotating the yard-spar with the braces, and adjusting the sheets & tacklines to best capture the wind.  Eventually, we added two crossjacks to pole out the sail’s clews and played around with the sail trim some more.  She did a respectable 4 knots with rather light wind.

Approaching home port, I lowered and doused the sail by gathering up the fabric and bungeeing it around the crossjacks.  We motored back into the slip to complete a very successful sea trial.  I never imagined that 180 square feet of ripstock nylon could look so good!

—————————————

A week later, I went out by myself to see if this could all be done single-handed.  The wind was ideal for the sea trial; moderate and steady out of the north.  I sailed upwind to the I-5 floating bridge, then furled the foresail and lowered the main.  As the boat drifted south, I made the conversion and turned her into a square-rigger, including the running backstays since the winds were gusting up to 15 knots.

It’s certainly doable, but having an extra set of hands in the cockpit managing the halyard and braces makes it a lot easier.  Once I got everything set, Big Blue was raised and I enjoyed a 4-5 knot cruise back to the marina.  Trimming the sail is a relaxed and enjoyable exercise; so nice to not have to constantly glance at the wind vane and worry about an accidental jibe or a flogging foresail!

Sqoop, there it is !!

To go back to the home page, click HERE