Having sailed Goldberry for a bit more than a season now, I thought it was time that I start keeping some notes on how she handles, when to reef, etc. I will add to this from time to time as I notice new things, etc.

1. Reefing

The mainsail is very large and, in any more than a moderate breeze can easily overpower the boat. On a blustery day with the main all the way up, the boat tends to get knocked over before she speeds up. The first reef is needed when the wind reaches 8-10 knots (especially if there are frequent stronger guests). With one reef in the main, two people in the boat and a moderate breeze, she'll really go while being easy to keep on her feet. Above 15 knots it's time to put in the second reef. Goldberry will easily get close to hull speed with a two-reefed main under those conditions. As of yet, I haven't had a chance to play with the third reef (or had the need of it on our little inland lake).

One note - the jib is also large and adds considerably to the power of the boat when set. Goldberry sails quite well without the jib up - she tacks a little slower and has a bit more weather helm - so if I need to depower the boat in a hurry, dropping the jib will do it. The jib must be promptly tied with a sail tie, though, or it will fly itself right back up!

2. Tacking

Compared to smooth bottomed fiberglass racing boats, the Ness Yawl tacks slowly. I suspect that is mainly because she has a small keel and skeg that keep her tracking straight. I have found that if I want to keep speed up through a tack, that I need to let the jib fill backed for 2-3 seconds before hauling it over. That way the jib pulls the bow around smartly.

3. Heaving To

To heave to, I tack the boat slowly, leaving the jib cleated as for the previous tack. As the bow comes past the wind I ease the helm over to the new leeward side. As the jib fills, the boat falls off and begins to sail. The rudder turns the boat back into the wind, and then the jib is backed again, and the boat falls off. The net effect is that the boat moves along in little swooping arcs, while falling off slowly to leeward. The main does almost nothing, and so reefing is easy at this point. In light airs the boat will essentially stop. When the wind breezes up (15 knots), the boat will move along at about 1.2 knots (measuring by GPS). She sits upright and is very controlled.

I always heave to on the starboard tack, because all of my reefing lines are on the port side of the boom. If I'm single-handing the boat, I can tie off the helm and go foward to deal with reefing.

4. Top Speed

Hull speed for a Ness Yawl ought to be in the range of 5.5 knots. On two different windy days, with three people in the boat, we have reached about 6.6 knots (GPS). The first time we had one reef in the main and the second the sail was all the way up. We felt that we might have gone faster on the second day (the wind was stronger), but too much energy was going into heeling the boat. If we had had a reef in, we might have gone faster! More attempts to follow....

5. Light Air Sailing

The boat will move along in very light wind. Even when the breeze is less than I can feel on my face, she will go along enough to have steerage way. In very light airs we measured speeds of around 0.7 knots. That's not much (!) but it is enough to get back to the dock, if the dock isn't far off. In light wind the big rig and the lightweight hull really shine. In any kind of noticeable wind, the boat will move along between 2 and 3 knots.

6. Under Oars

When the lake looks like glass, and there just isn't a breath of air we do have oars. Until recently, I had only rowed Goldberry once without the rig. I wasn't sure how it was going to work with the main up and the boom next to my head. I hit upon a solution that worked pretty well - I used the topping lift to hoist the boom up and out of the way. The only complicating factor was that then the mainsheet hung down in my face. That can be tied off or just held outf the way by a friend, which is what we did for a brief row back to the dock. Right now I have a pair of quickly made oars, 9.5' long, made from construction lumber. They worked fine and, rowing easily, we made 2.5 knots across the lake. From my one other experience rowing Goldberry, I know that when the wind blows much at all, the windage of the high bow becomes a real issue - but then we can sail anyway! Bottom line, she rows great and, unless I ever plan to go miles from shore, I don't see the need to contemplate any other auxilliary power.

7. Stability/Person Overboard Drills

On the plans, Iain Oughtred comments on floatation bags, saying 'they may be essential.' Since I sail on a relatively tiny inland lake that I could swim across if I pace myself, I'm not too worried. However, the way Goldberry is configured right now, I don't have floatation under the seats or up forward. The entire stern compartment is sealed and will keep the boat above water. What I really need are floatation bags under the forward side seats, or up under the fordeck. So, with that in mind, some comments on stability:

The hull shape has great ultimate stability. I can stand (all 195 lbs. of me) on the thwart and not put the rail under. Recently, when sailing her hard, we did actually get the lee rail in the water but it was clear that she had a long way to go before she would flip. Unless I was caught in really bad weather very suddenly, I just can't see accidentally flipping the boat - not where I sail, anyway.

On a recent outing, my very ethusiastic friend Bryan wanted to see how easy it would be to get back in the boat. The easiest method for him, without assistance, was to brace his feet on the centerboard, reach in the boat and grab the thwart, then kick off and heave himself in. Even with nobody else in the boat he didn't put the rail in the water doing this. To rescue a person with less upper body strength than Bryan, a helper can stand across the boat, grab the opposite rail, and offer a helping heave. This worked very nicely and would be my first choice if I was actually rescuing somebody. Bryan was also able to swarm aboard up at the bow - he was far enough foward to to reach across the boat and grab the opposite rail. This also worked aft, although with help from me. We did a number of these tests at the dock, then sailed out into the middle of the lake, hove too, and did it 'for real.' We used the centerboard/thwart/helper method. The total recovery time was just a few seconds. I find it very reassuring that this worked so well.

8. Solo Sailing in Blustery Conditions

So far I have had a couple of experiences being out in the boat when the weather was unkind. Most recently, I was out on a turbulent day with wind steady about 10, gusting to 20+. Some of the gusts came on so fast that they drove a little breaking wavelet in front of them. On a lake that is barely a mile in most directions, that was something! I had two reefs in the main and never bothered with the jib. With just 195 lbs of me in the boat she would heel rapidly and, in the gusts was noticably overpowered. To keep her on her feet I sailed her with the sail about half stalled into the wind at all times. She was managable that way, but I could never get going very fast for fear of not being able to control her in the next gust. In spite of this, and the 1 to 1.5 foot chop, I could tack the boat (no jib!) if I could build up enough speed before putting the helm down. These are obviously really bad conditions to be out in - I think I would have been able to do all right if the wind had been strong but steady. With a wind of 10 knots and just me in the boat, I need one reef in the main, but at 20+, I need three reefs and perhaps some ballast. In any event, it was an interesting experience and has gotten me thinking again about the topic of ballast.

9. Ballast and More Solo Sailing

More experiments..... I made up four sandbags of approximately 30 lbs. each out of all jeans legs. They are a convenient size and easy to move around the boat. I sailed with them in a rising wind. Before lunch the wind was around 7-10 knots with occassional gusts to 12 or so. With the ballast packed around the centerboard trunk, the boat is much stiffer, even just clambering around her at the dock. Whereas before standing on the gunwale at the chainplate would have gotten my feet wet, with the ballast in place about half the sheer strake was still out of the water. Out on the lake (sailing with one reef in the main) her roll rate was much less and the heel angle where she stiffened up was much less. Without the ballast she would have been overpowered under those conditions and one reef - with the ballast she was perfectly manageable (lots of fun, actually). By GPS I was generally sailing 4.5 to 5 knots and, in the gusts, 5.2-5.5 knots, which is about hull speed. After lunch, and a chat with Tom Bell, my sailmaker, I decided to try the combo of jib and main with the third reef. He was curious how she balanced that way, so off I went. I left the dock under just the reefed down main and went along about 2.5 knots. I raised the jib, got out on the lake, and the wind came up considerably. There were some whitecaps, and I would guess that the wind was 12-14 with short gusts of about 15-18. Again, the boat was totally controllable and I hit 5.5 knots a few time. Mostly I was going about 4.5, though. I had to head for home before I had the chance to go to two reefs in the main. I think I could have managed that under those conditions, but I might have wanted an extra few pounds of ballast. Bottom line - for a gunter gaff rigged Ness Yawl ballast makes all the difference for solo sailing!

Ballast update - over the winter of 2007/8 I cast 6 20 lb lead bricks and mounted them to plywood pads in the bilge. I have sailed twice with the ballast so far and it provides even more stability than the sandbags. The first day the winds were moderate and all the ballast really did was make the boat more stable at the dock. However, the wind during the second sail was around 10 knots steady with occassional periods of 15+ (not gusts, but sustained winds lasting long enough to kick up whitecaps all over the lake). I was out with a sailing buddy who likes to go fast and we sailed the boat aggressively. We never reefed the boat, and never needed to, although some hiking out was required. During the highest winds we were roaring along at around 6 knots with one person hiked out and the lee rail not quite under (great fun!). One reef would have made the afternoon much less intense and would have been necessary if I had been out alone. Also, the ballast gives the boat more momentum to push through chop - we generally went faster because the short waves on the lake didn't slow us down. Another benefit - the roll rate is much less, so she doesn't heel as suddenly when tacking, jybing, or simpling moving around the boat when she's at the dock. In the event of a sudden gust, I have just a bit more time to react and that makes me much calmer. All in all, a very good addition.