Hello Little Wing. Great to see you here at Bilbob Bay Shaw Island. Your videography is fantastic. Nice to see you on the water and not in the laundromat! Anne “Serengeti”
LOL. What a classic! We are sitting here looking at Serengeti when your comment came in... the 50 metres across the water. We were next to you in Roylen Bay at Goldsmith Island as well. Perhaps we will meet again at the next Laundromat because we are running out of fresh undies ;) Thanks for your positive feedback. The videos are great fun to produce. Ben and Dominika
Oh Wow...she is grabbing heaps of power outa that breeze...Gosh, Little Wing ain't so little with a bit of extra grunt.. Sort of "Excuse me water, I am coming thru". Any thoughts in motion with some trials with Blue water cruising ? I am a desk sailor, know nothing, but am sure I'd feel comfortable with no land on the horizon, your 2nd in command and me as a 'bottom scrubber' lol Your videos are short and sweet, but Little Wing sure is a sweet girl, even if out classed by her weight/performance by them modern little expensive vessels...."Love Her" Cheers again.
Hey Dennis Thanks for you comment. I totally agree, she just ploughs her way through the water. When she is in that groove it feels like there is no stopping her and I often think we could go on for days… I am following my dreams, perhaps not blue water straight away but call it emerald green to light blue ocean sailing and have been spending a lot of energy of improving Little Wing to get her ready. That is why my postings of sailing movies have been a bit sporadic lately as most weekends are spent working on the boat instead of sailing. But hopefully not too much longer now…
It is actually a very old two pack paint on the hull, but you cant tell the chalkiness and defects in the videos. Most of the time there is a film of water giving it a wet, glossy look which makes it look so good in the videos.
Beautiful! I noticed you had a double reefed main and staysail and partially rolled up jib. What was the wind speed? Turning to spring here on the west coast of Canada and looking forward to cruising on board Arctic Loon (WS hull 77). Many thanks for sharing!
Hi Vikram and ahoy Arctic Loon Glad you liked the movie (hard not to when you own your own Westsail) The windspeed gradually picked up during the day and was probably around 15-17knots on the way over and around 20 knots on the way back with gusts and patches perhaps 22 to 24 knots. I do not have any wind instruments so these are not measured, but guestimates based on the forecast for the day. There always seems to be a real windy patch just outside the anchorage we were in. I think the wind, when blowing south east, gets funnelled between two islands and picks up a bit of speed. So when we left the anchorage and I made the call on how much sail area I was going to put up, I went a bit conservative. I believe we had the 3rd reef in the mainsail. One could leave the full staysail out but that would require the Yankee to be furled away quite a lot and well beyond the point where it holds a nice shape. Therefore, I decided to reef the staysail and leave out a bit more of the Yankee. I am still playing around with keeping the overall balance on the boat and reefing the staysail when I take a significant reef in the Yankee. At first that was just right when the wind was over 20 knots, later during the sail I could have had a bit more sail area out there but near our home port the wind picked up again… so it was an acceptable call. When I read other westsailors descriptions, I seem to have far less sail area out than other people and seem to reef earlier. Not sure why that is. Whether we estimate wind speeds differently, have different sail shapes leading to overpowering of the boat quicker, or different expectations to boat balance and handling. Either way once my boat speed hits 6 knots or over I am happy and figure there is probably not much point in more sail area. I hope you have a great sailing season in Canada. Greetings from down under.
@@littlewing.ws32 Ahoy Little Wing and thanks for your detailed response. Judging from the short sequence of the young lady at the helm, Little Wing was perfectly balanced (didn't see the helmsman fighting the tiller, she was even smiling!!). Also, at 6 kn through the water more sail would not have helped much. Great to reef before you really need it. We have a roller jib but after seeing your video I am thinking of putting reef lines on the staysail. Best wishes and please keep sharing.
Fabulous, thank you x
Beautiful
What a day! Your just ripping across there! Great shots!
Hello Little Wing.
Great to see you here at Bilbob Bay Shaw Island.
Your videography is fantastic.
Nice to see you on the water and not in the laundromat!
Anne
“Serengeti”
LOL. What a classic! We are sitting here looking at Serengeti when your comment came in... the 50 metres across the water. We were next to you in Roylen Bay at Goldsmith Island as well. Perhaps we will meet again at the next Laundromat because we are running out of fresh undies ;)
Thanks for your positive feedback. The videos are great fun to produce.
Ben and Dominika
She just surges along doesn't she? Just great.
Oh Wow...she is grabbing heaps of power outa that breeze...Gosh, Little Wing ain't so little with a bit of extra grunt..
Sort of "Excuse me water, I am coming thru".
Any thoughts in motion with some trials with Blue water cruising ? I am a desk sailor, know nothing, but am sure I'd feel comfortable with no land on the horizon, your 2nd in command and me as a 'bottom scrubber' lol
Your videos are short and sweet, but Little Wing sure is a sweet girl, even if out classed by her weight/performance by them modern little expensive vessels...."Love Her" Cheers again.
Hey Dennis
Thanks for you comment. I totally agree, she just ploughs her way through the water. When she is in that groove it feels like there is no stopping her and I often think we could go on for days…
I am following my dreams, perhaps not blue water straight away but call it emerald green to light blue ocean sailing and have been spending a lot of energy of improving Little Wing to get her ready. That is why my postings of sailing movies have been a bit sporadic lately as most weekends are spent working on the boat instead of sailing. But hopefully not too much longer now…
A sailing channel that ACTUALLY SAILS! I thought they went extinct!
I love the sailing sound with no music.
That sure is the perfect boat for your typical conditions. What kind of paint is on the hull? It's gorgeous!
It is actually a very old two pack paint on the hull, but you cant tell the chalkiness and defects in the videos. Most of the time there is a film of water giving it a wet, glossy look which makes it look so good in the videos.
Beautiful! I noticed you had a double reefed main and staysail and partially rolled up jib. What was the wind speed? Turning to spring here on the west coast of Canada and looking forward to cruising on board Arctic Loon (WS hull 77). Many thanks for sharing!
Hi Vikram and ahoy Arctic Loon
Glad you liked the movie (hard not to when you own your own Westsail)
The windspeed gradually picked up during the day and was probably around 15-17knots on the way over and around 20 knots on the way back with gusts and patches perhaps 22 to 24 knots. I do not have any wind instruments so these are not measured, but guestimates based on the forecast for the day.
There always seems to be a real windy patch just outside the anchorage we were in. I think the wind, when blowing south east, gets funnelled between two islands and picks up a bit of speed. So when we left the anchorage and I made the call on how much sail area I was going to put up, I went a bit conservative. I believe we had the 3rd reef in the mainsail. One could leave the full staysail out but that would require the Yankee to be furled away quite a lot and well beyond the point where it holds a nice shape. Therefore, I decided to reef the staysail and leave out a bit more of the Yankee. I am still playing around with keeping the overall balance on the boat and reefing the staysail when I take a significant reef in the Yankee.
At first that was just right when the wind was over 20 knots, later during the sail I could have had a bit more sail area out there but near our home port the wind picked up again… so it was an acceptable call.
When I read other westsailors descriptions, I seem to have far less sail area out than other people and seem to reef earlier. Not sure why that is. Whether we estimate wind speeds differently, have different sail shapes leading to overpowering of the boat quicker, or different expectations to boat balance and handling. Either way once my boat speed hits 6 knots or over I am happy and figure there is probably not much point in more sail area.
I hope you have a great sailing season in Canada. Greetings from down under.
@@littlewing.ws32 Ahoy Little Wing and thanks for your detailed response. Judging from the short sequence of the young lady at the helm, Little Wing was perfectly balanced (didn't see the helmsman fighting the tiller, she was even smiling!!). Also, at 6 kn through the water more sail would not have helped much. Great to reef before you really need it. We have a roller jib but after seeing your video I am thinking of putting reef lines on the staysail. Best wishes and please keep sharing.