Sunday 21 Nov, re-launch 2021, HHN day 53: Three new EPEX sails raised and furled. New sheets attached. Lots of visitors. Final deck tidy-up.
Even though it’s Sunday, we are up early. We have a very exciting mission today! One that we have been looking forward to, for what seems like a long time. Raising our 3 new Elvström EPEX sails 😊 which we purchased back in May 2020.
We have a narrow window to do this not-as-simple-as-it-seems operation. At dawn there is zero wind, by midday it is forecast to steadily rise and will be windy for the rest of the week. We need zero wind! Ray is planned to arrive 10am to give us extra hands-on-deck. So, by 7am we are already up doing the prep-work. The 6 long vertical battens were all prepared last evening and are lying on the dock ready to go, but the sails themselves are still snug in the saloon where they have been very comfortable for a year now. I say snug and comfortable because this morning there is frost on the deck. It’s going to be quite a shock for them!
I had thought the only way to get them out would be via the main companionway, which would mean removing the cockpit tent and sprayhood, which would be a big faff. But Oana thinks they will fit through the saloon deck hatch. And she is right! With the boom swung aside they do just squeeze up through the hatch using a halyard to pull them out (bear in mind, it is impossible to lift these sails without mechanical help). And before we know it, all 3 of them are on deck and the saloon returns to being a usable space, no longer resembling a sail loft!
While Oana makes breakfast, I lay plastic on the deck because it is still frosty and wet. And I clean various coloured bird-poos off the tent. We don’t want any marks on these sails before they are even deployed. With the mainsail clew attached to the outhaul, I manage to drag it to the end of the boom while the sail unrolls by gravity, down the windscreen, leaving it neatly flaked across the top of the cockpit tent.
Next job, which is always quite tricky, is to get the head of the mainsail head attached to the halyard swivel inside the mast. There are inspection holes in the mast specially for this, but not really big enough for the size of this captain’s elephant hands!
Then, for the mainsail, the process goes like this:
– Raise the sail, putting in each of the short (2m) leach battens as we go
– With the sail now fully raised, feed in the longest vertical batten, next to the mast
– Furl the sail into the mast so the next batten pocket is now just behind the mast
– Feed in the next long batten, furl-in again
– Then the next, and so on until the 6th and smallest long batten is installed
– Furl-out the entire sail. Check it looks OK.
– Furl it all the way back into the mast ensuring each batten enters the mast exactly parallel to the mast, and ensure it all goes in OK without the hydraulics struggling for the last bit
Not so simple eh? And even less simple, if not impossible, to do when at sea.
When Ray arrives, the mainsail is 2 metres up the mast and I have the halyard back to the electric genoa winch. As we raise up this massive sail a BIG smile comes over our faces. There is nothing quite like putting up brand new sails for the first time. And these Vectran-Technoa EPEX sails are both technical and beautiful.
Getting in the 2.5m long “short” leach battens is very easy. They are just like another leech batten; except they are vertical. And pretty quickly the sail is fully raised and tensioned on its halyard. It already looks amazing.
Now for the full length vertical battens. The first and longest (75ft!) is the most difficult. Ray gets it started in the pocket while Oana and I manage the rest of the fibre-glass snake that is winding its way across the deck and down the pontoon. With it only ½ way in, it is already very difficult to push upwards. The friction is quite high. It takes all of mine and Ray’s strength to get it the final few feet. Once inside, the newly designed batten pusher-come-securing device is a significant improvement over the old batten-pusher & velcro design. And the plastic pieces all end up behind material, with no UV exposure. Well done Elvstrom, you have learned and improved.
For the next batten we us Sailcote to help lubricate the batten, and all subsequent battens go in much easier. Finally, we unfurl the sail, and admire it with all its battens in place. It looks amazing (sorry, did I already say that?!). We love the colour. The HR54 insignia is perfect and the roach on this FATFURL design is HUGE! Hey …. Just a minute, does this enlarged roach actually clear the backstay? I run to the stern to look. Phew, yes it does, but only just! The last mainsail had much more of a gap. Just goes to show how much extra sail area Elvström have squeezed out of this new design. We LIKE it!
Furling it back in is easy, just like our last mainsail. Which is a bit of a relief because the mast can only house so much sail rolled into it. As the clew corner goes in, the mast is chock-a-block with sail. Let’s say it’s a very snug fit.
And just as we complete the mainsail, the light breeze starts as per forecast. We finished the most difficult part just in time. But wait, 2 more sails to go up yet…
By comparison, getting the genoa and cutter sails raised and furled away is very easy. Especially with Ray’s help. The 135% genoa is the biggest of all 3 sails. Definitely need the electric winch to raise this one. It takes a bit of effort to get it to furl without any creases, but let’s hope it will be better once some wind has removed the fold lines.
Finally, the cutter sail (or staysail) goes up. This is more like a blade sail, only coming back just as far as the mast front. And it has 3 vertical battens in the leech, which our last cutter didn’t have. We always struggled to get the last sail to have decent shape to it. It was never set quite right. In fact, it annoyed the hell out of me. I cannot abide badly trimmed sails. This one looks like a whole new kettle-of-fish. Can’t wait to get a 30+kt wind to try it.
After tea and cake (Oana’s home made) Ray and Oana get me up the mast. Two jobs to do. Firstly, remove the black plastic bags over the mast head (our anti bird-poo strategy), then to install the Raymarine wind instrument and the new super-sized Windex, wind indicator. Oh … and to try out the new mast steps, which turn out to have been perfectly placed 😊. Using these steps, I can now easily stand up and reach anything at the mast top and above it without feeling insecure and still firmly in my bosun’s chair. Thanks to Noah, owner of HR55 Uncle Moe, for this tip.
And there we have it. The boat is finally fully rigged. New rig, new sails, new sheets, rebuild mast, boom, hydraulics, electrics, and mainsheet system. 18 months ago I set a goal to sail away with everything deck upwards either new or brought up to new condition. And here we have it. It was a long road of work and learnings, and today it all came together, finally. Hence my ear-to-ear grin today.
I have to sincerely thank Ray, Stephen (ECMR), and of course Ludvig at Hallberg Rassy in Ellos. But even doing most the work myself, the overall bill is not for the faint hearted. Even at big discount and zero import duty/tax the sails were U$30k, the new rig U$20k and the rest U$5k. And if I add my time at USA hourly rates, we are probably at least double that. Thank goodness this has been spread over 18 months.
During the day we had quite a few visitors. Ray of course, but he doesn’t count as a visitor, he is part of Cloudy Bay! Then Jay and Dale came to see the sails go up. They recently purchased an HR53 and are in the process of buying new sails. Then in the afternoon we had Mario and Sandra come by. Mario bought an HR43 last year and I helped him view boats before buying.
By dusk, the decks and cockpit are all cleared and we are ready to sail. Below decks Oana has almost finished her stowing, ready for the next load of provisioning. There is no rush to depart though. No window in the coming days when the water will be high enough to get out of here. And 2 low pressure systems are now rolling-in throughout this week. So we will step down the pace in the coming days waiting on the stars (wind and water level) to align.
We go to bed feeling quite elated. Today was the last of many milestones in this refit and will be a day to fondly remember.