Month: October 2014

My brother and I went out.

Winds were in the 15-25 knot range with waves 2-3 feet.

Heading south into the wind and waves

When we were heading north we had following seas and a 20-25 knots wind on a beam reach. We were getting to 7.7 knots when surfing down the waves. Fun!.

Got a photo when we were going 7.5 knots. Didn’t have the camera ready when we hit 7.7 knots

On Saturday (11-October-14) I went for a single handed sail.
Winds were mostly in the 10 – 12 knot range and I spent most of the day sailing 5.5 to 6.0 knots VOG.
Temps were in the mid to low 50’s. It got a little cool when the sun was behind the sails, but nice with the sun shining on the cockpit.

Always wearing a PFD and harness when sailing alone.

6.0 knots



Sun in the sails.

On Sunday (5-October-14) my brother and I had a excellent sail. Before heading out we stopped at the marina’s fuel dock and filled up the fuel tank and pumped out the holding tank. Weather was pretty good with temps kind of cool in the low 50’s, waves were in the 1-3 foot range and winds were 10-15 knots with gusts to 25. Had to put a reef in the main sail and let out the work jib a bit. Our fastest speed was a new record at 7.7 knots for a short while. Hull speed for the boat is 6.4 knots.
A little spray over the bow

Enjoying a snack of Utz Crab Chips. Can’t get these delicious morsels in Illinois. Have to have them specially imported from the PA/MD area.
Rail in the water

Rail in the water again

6.0 knots on a beam reach with 1 reef in the main. Not bad for our Contest 29

I used the “Slow Motion” feature on my iPhone a bit to capture the action and made a separate video.

On Saturday (4-October-2014) I went to the boat to get the engine running. Last week on Saturday, after we sailed all day, the engine died on us as we were coming back into the dock. Luckily it died as we were making the final turn into our dock area and our momentum allowed us to glide into our slip without any issues. We quickly had a look at things and saw a minor leak at the fuel prime bulb. We thought that the leak was allowing air to get into the fuel line. Diesel engines do not run with air in the fuel line.

On Sunday, we bought a new prime bulb and went the boat hoping for a quick fix and an afternoon sail. We had a closer look at the fuel system on Sunday and found that the fuel hose between the fuel filter and the high pressure fuel injection pump had a crack in it. We tried the parts store at Larsen Marina to see if they had a hose in stock…they didn’t. So we called it quits for the day.

Fuel hose with a crack in it

The following week I tried to find a replacement hose and was unsuccessful. Our engine is a vintage 1975 Yanmar SB12 and it is hard to find parts for it anymore.

I ended up cutting the fittings off the original hose to reuse them and bought a foot of fuel injector hose from the local auto parts store to make a replacement hose.

Cutting fittings off the old hose

So, on Saturday I installed the prime bulb, new fuel hose and after several attempts at bleeding the air out of the system got the engine running again.

New prime bulb and hose installed

Yanmar SB12 running again.

On Saturday (27-September-2014) my friend Joe, my brother and I went out for a pleasant sail. Winds were light…6 knots max. It was a relaxing time on Lake Michigan though we did have a little excitement when the engine died on us as we were coming back into the dock. Luckily it died as we were making the final turn into our dock area and our momentum aloud us to glide easily into our slip without any issues.

Joe and my brother Rich

Me