Being a ketch (and a lady) Cleone has a large wardrobe of sails - of which we have ten* with us! Cleone's day-to-day wear is always white, and consists of a 110% furling Genoa, a fully battened Terelyne Mainsail and a Mizzen. These were all made to measure for her by North Sails in Gosport when I bought Cleone in 1995. The specification was for heavy-weight cruising sails, designed to be used in all weather and built to be durable. The Main has 3 reefs and the Mizzen 2, and the Mizzen is of a strength and sized so that when deeply reefed it can act in place of a try-sail. These sails have not disappointed. So far they have propelled us some 20000 miles with, apart from a couple of tears induced by careless handling, not a stitch out of place. In case there is a problem, we carry the old Main and old Genoa as spares, and we have already had to use the spare Main on one occasion on this trip (Canaries to Cape Verdes, when the skipper managed to push the Spinnaker Boom through the Mainsail just near the cringle). But when the weather is more than just rough, or less than just light, we have other sails to help us keep going. Inside the forestay is mounted a second, on which we can fly our heavy-weather sails. These are either a smallish Working Jib (unusually, this itself can be reefed) or a proper orange Storm Jib; both have rarely been used. And to complete this wardrobe, there are the light-weight sails. The Queen of these is the Mizzen Staysail, which gets used more than any of the others. Patriotically (particularly if you are French) this is sewn in tasteful red, white and blue stripes, and it flies forward from the top of the Mizzen Mast with a long, curving luff behind the Main Backstay and tacking down forward on the windward side. It is almost an equilateral triangle in shape, and its long foot and leech lead back to the clew which is sheeted home to the Mizzen Boom. This sail is a bit bigger than the mainsail, and can be flown on many points of sail from a reach to almost a dead run. Its only disadvantage is that it often back-winds the Mizzen itself, which then has to be furled, but this is outweighed by the power of the Mizzen Staysail. Its other advantages are that its centre of effort is right in the middle of the boat, where it is most needed, and its ease of handling. It can be raised and lowered by one crew member in a trice, and it's the only lightweight sail that we have ever carried at night. Then there is the Ghoster - formerly a hanked sail, but now flown loose-luffed and ahead of the boat, either at the end of the spinnaker pole, or led through the pulpit, in the same way as an asymmetric spinnaker or cruising chute. Twice the size of the Genoa, but a bit delicate, this is a great sail in light airs. It can be used when the wind is just free of a fetch, right up to when the wind is dead aft - when we use it as an asymmetric spinnaker. The Ghoster's distinguishing colours are a unique (for Cleone) horizontal red and white stripes! And finally, there is the King - the big red, white and blue spinnaker itself. This is over twenty years old (as are most of the other sails), but like many of the others, has been little used. It's an old-fashioned Radial Head design, but there is nothing wrong with its performance. It's launched from a sock which is first pulled to the top of the main-mast. And ever since Rosie sewed rings up the inside of this sock, launching and retrieving the Spinnaker, even with a small crew, has proved straightforward. But never get complacent - as short a time ago as yesterday evening, we managed to wrap the beast round the inner forestay as we were lowering it, luckily without making it irretrievable. Spinnaker's are ever-ready to bite!
So in a nutshell, there is Cleone's wardrobe. Sails are bulky, heavy, awkward to handle (particularly when wet), prone to tear, capricious and expensive. But as well as being things of beauty when properly set, they are the heart, lungs and muscles of a sailing yacht. Setting and tending them well is what good, fast sailing is all about.
The big event of yesterday was Norfy's Wedding Anniversary, which we celebrated in style; and special congratulations to Veronica and himself. Chris himself prepared the lunch-time feast of Smoked Salmon, Asparagas (sp?) and Hollandaise Sauce. It was delicious, and we had a glass of chardonay (or 2) to go with it.
Not such a good run yesterday "only" 160 miles. But we are making great progress, and starting to look forward to French Polynesia. Meanwhile, today is cloudy and squallier than yesterday, and the humidity is back up. We'll be watching the weather, probably keeping the light-weight sails in their bags and helping the Irishmen around the fleet celebrate St Patrick's day. And to any Irishmen reading this, a very happy St Patrick's day to you, whoever and wherever you are.
All well and happy, and starting to get used to tinned food!
James, Chris & Elizabeth
Yacht Cleone
At sea
076.07S 107.14W
(*perhaps more than any other boat in the fleet; no wonder we are slow!)