Sunday 14 April

It was friday afternoon that with the help of Steffi I finally got the mast sorted out and setup ready to sail. So a couple of hours on the water was allowed to calm down from the stress of it all... The spreader bars hd become jammed in the mast at an angle, I shall have to get a better look and sort that out when I take the mast down in autumn.
So plans were made for a sail on Sunday and Steffi bless her was raring to go. The forecast was good with F3 to 4 with sunshine and 17 deg. We met at 1000 and after an hour cleaning the deck, (I didn't want the new head sail foot getting grubby).
We set sail and soon had the new head sail set. It was a good romp with Toy Box simply over on her rail and charging away. We logged at one point 6,7 knots and were making a good 5knts close hauled. I was impressed and am pleased with her performance.The sail at 9,5qm is a little too long in the foot and fouls the shrouds but apart from that all is well. I will only be using the sail in light winds as above anything above f3 Toy Box is just as fast with her working jib.
I made a series of short films and simply threw them together on YouTube here is the result

 Jidzo sailing

As you can see it was overcast all day long, also if you are sharp eyed you will see i managed to drop the videos in the wrong order..We changed down to the working Jib after lunch as the wind had picked up. I really enjoyed having Steffi on board she can sail the boat quite well and it left me time to film and simply relax and be a passenger on my own boat.I look forward to sailing with her again in the future.

Well as you can expect Toy Box is back in her mooring and we are all now simply waiting for the season to get underway ..

Relaunch 2013

Managed to get the boat relauncher ahead of the forcasted rain, blasting cold wind from the east, still she looks good back in her element. Now all we need is good weather! 

Another day spent on "refit"

I managed today to get the anti fouling on and even fitted the new cleats to take the halyards when the sails are raised. So quite pleased with myself. I sat in the cockpit and simply took in the sound of the wind, it was blowing about a 5 or 6 from North East so was chilly but the sun was shining and the world felt great.
Toy Box was getting herself ready for the water as well, I could feel the surges of power going through her every time a slightly stronger gust hit her mast and transferred the power down through into the hull. She seemed to come to live with a pulse of her own, willing me to get her finished so that she can turn her bow to the waves.instead of the blank wall of the boat shed.
I opened up the storage bins and dug out the old can of white paint I had there and painted the insides of the bins. It will simply make getting things out of them "nicer" as apposed to scrabbling about in a grubby hole now when opened there is a white area of hull to look at .! 

The epoxy on the keel was still not hardened through so am hoping it will be ok by Saturday when I intend to have her brought to the crane and lifted so I can sand down the area and get the anti fouling on.. Then Monday morning is launch time.. I hope !!

 Here a short film I have put together.. please leave a comment !
Schlei scenes ..A short video have a look what do you think ? Should I carry on

Spring Refit the second time around !

Today I managed to take advantage of the "warmer" (5degC) weather and of course the wonderful sunshine, and do some work on Toy Box, she now has all the lines from the mast leading into the cockpit for ease, of course the safety aspect cannot be ignored. Not needing to go forward on a lurching deck in the dark to sort something out is a plus when sailing alone. I am surprised it has taken me this long to fit the bits and bobs I have had some of them laying about for years..!

Here a photo of the main and job halyard with their new clamps and winch !
I had help from a work colleague (Steffi) who unlike me has all her German Sailing papers.I have "only" my RYA stuff saying that I have never yet been asked to show them anywhere..Yet.. grins.It´s nice to sit and chinwag whilst actually doing something on the boat. let´s face it aftert 5 months of winterit was simply wonderful to be outside again if if it is still chilly in the shadows.
I managed to slap some epoxy filler onto the damage on the Keel today so that should be dry in a few days..says 24 hrs at 20 deg.. ! so it is getting help from an infrared lamp ! ..
I intend to slap the anti-fouling on tomorrow so will be busy with that most of the morning. I shall have to finish off the sanding of the keel when the epoxy is dried and then anti-foul the rest it at the same time. 
Here a photo of me under the boat today .

 Here is a photo taken last summer whilst sailing on the Schlei.