70. Another gaff

SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ - Atlantic coast, near Spain

Wonderful discovery this morning. My favorite weather site yr.no from Norway now has an App.  While a student pilot, Les, my instructor, got me on to it as you can look up the weather anywhere, even the top of Mt Cook, NZ. Handy when flying past to know what is up there and whether to put on a jacket before embarking. What sets yr.no apart is that it is hourly and gives wind speed in metres per second and direction. 1ms is 2 knots (1.94384) so today started with a eleven knot breeze at the local aerodrome or somewhere.  Here is was less, I'm guessing about eight knots because of the trees and terrain but warm and promising.

Spot the visitor

After washing myself, breakfast dishes etc. I strolled off with newly repaired gaff on my shoulder and lifejacket on my arm heading, with joy, for Teasel.  About thirty metres into the walk I thought about how the children have done no maths homework this week so returned to get them going.  Not for the faint hearted, but eventually got Jac helping Fyfe, down the other end of the Giantavan who was struggling with fractions (don't we all) and Roman to do some also by inviting Mary (next door glamper) to join them. It appears that Mary is enjoying having a little brother and our elder three are more than happy to share him.

By the time all this was settled, I set off again, only to find that the wind had died by about half 😡. While rigging, the halyard popped out of the worn plastic cleat and the gaff crashed down shattering the original gaff jaw.  I knew I should have made two.  In the end I did manage a couple of hours sailing on the lake which was very enjoyable though only had water gurgling under the bow about ten percent of the time.  As previously mentioned, a Mirror Dinghy is a delight to sail.

At about three in the afternoon the four youngest returned onto the lake and apart from securing provisions and ablutions stayed out until about two hours after dark.