Feb 23 2008
San Juan 21 Rigging Clinic 2008
Each year San Juan 21 Fleet one in Seattle puts on a rigging clinic in February to get the boats of the fleet ready for spring racing. This year we hit the Washington weather equivalent of a trifecta: sun, mild temps, and a 10-15kt NW breeze. It was as close as a winter sailor in Seattle can hope to come to a perfect day in February. The beautiful day also brought out the masses, and we had 10 boats, 12+ skippers, and several Sea Scouts who took part.
I brought limpet down and used the opportunity to do several maintenance items I have been planning for quite a while. I put the class rule band marks on both my mast and boom. I put on some new spreader boots I got when I cut my spreaders down to the class minimum see San Juan 21 Spreaders article for more details. I attached a new jib halyard I had found in the rope remnants section of Fisheries Supply. I also stored my new air horn, and flares so as to be coast guard legal when on the water.
When I had gotten everything ready Chris Popich helped me launch my spinnaker for the first time. I know that it was just on the trailer, but I was pretty excited to see my 1974 spinnaker full and proud. I am missing several of the control lines, and all of the sailing knowledge which would allow me to actually fly a spinnaker on the water, but it is very cool to think about continuing my sailing education.
When I had finished playing with my new toy, I decided not to actually launch Limpet. Instead I jumped a ride with Fauso on Habagat. We headed out and had a great session of adjusting sail trim in order to pace with other boats. We had a group of 7 San Juan 21s which made a big clockwise course around the south end of Lake Washington. We practiced sail trim and got advice from the more experienced boats on the water. We then ran 2 practice starts to get experience hitting the line on time and with speed.
It was a great day and I am now really, really excited for our first spring series race.