We had avoided taking the RS Vision out again, but a few weeks ago on the 24th May, we thought what the hell and went out in it again as the National 12 still wasn’t fixed and we are impatient people.
We aimed to get down to the club early so Dan could do some bimbling to try and improve the spinnaker, only we both overslept so weren’t quite as early as we would have liked. He still got a chance to bimble though and re-rigged the spinnaker and sprayed the kite with some silicone spray to try and make it easier for me to pull it in and out. This made such a difference! And I must say that the Vision has somewhat redeemed itself in my view. It is still a ridiculously heavy boat, but I am now able to successfully get the spinnaker in and out!
All of this paid off as we managed to achieve 3rd place on handicap among 12-14 boats :-D. I was very happy with that. We did have a few other problems though which meant we could possibly have done even better… The cleat which holds the spinnaker when up has worn through and does not hold the rope at the bottom anymore, we had to pull the kite all the way up, then ever so slightly let it down again so I could lightly pull the rope up in the cleat to allow it to hold, tedious or what? There is also a metal hoop part way up the mast where the jib halliard threads through, but somehow, and we have no idea how, the spinnaker sheet also got caught through this so we were unable to pull it up as high as it could go. I don’t think it had a huge impact, but it along with the cleat are yet two more things that need to be fixed on the club boat.
It was great fun though, and I am thrilled that we came 3rd!
Dan's Sailing Blog 