Finally! After 9 months of phase 1 of a retrofit, and two new engines, we took delivery of S/V Ruby two days ago.
Instead of moving the vessel from the engine shop to the dock we decided to go sailing. It was our first sail as the vessel was not seaworthy when we made the purchase.
We sailed about 26 miles. The apparent wind speed averaged 19 kn with lulls as low as 15 kn and gusts as high as 23 kn. The seas were mildly to moderately choppy but Ruby cut through with ease.
Here are a few observations.
The new 120% Genoa was too much sail. We were definitely over canvassed. Unfortunately, we were unable to fuel so used other measures to power down. We even had to drop the sail to the deck before heading to the dock. I was able to hoist and furl st the dock this morning but it was rather difficult. My rigger has some ideas and will be meeting me at the vessel soon.
We were impressed with the seaworthiness of the vessel. Very little water came onto the deck. My last SV, Skiron, would have had us fairly wet under those conditions.
I’ve been on a multitude of sailboats, even at about 42 feet, and two at 50 feet on SF Bay. Not a single one of them was as fast as is Ruby. We peaked at about 8.9 kn at slack tide. Our speed never dropped below about 6.9 kn when sailing. As expected, destinations or waypoints across the bay are closer in time to one another.
The vessel points higher than any sailboat I’ve sailed! It’s almost as if it was seeking the close hauled position when reaching. We were able to balance and control by depowering with the traveler only.
The deck layout is a little complex and keeps the crew busy yet we were able to perform maneuvers after thinking and planning ahead. You have to remember that I had become spoiled with Skiron which had a self tacking jib and a single main sheet led to behind the helm of the center cockpit. The continuous main on two winches and continuous traveler of two winches as well as the two headsail sheets kept us fairly busy when changing directions.
I think I’m going to have to replace a few winches and maybe some clutches to ease the work of the crew (which means me while I have someone at the helm). Also, I’m aiming to have an 85-90% headsail made for summer SF winds.
Phase 2 work will involve a new Webasto, a polypropylene head tank, an inverter as well as an electric stove, and an autopilot.
We see a lot of great potential with this vessel. And we are going to have a lot of fun!
Sailing Ruby 