Day 270-271 New sail, new standing rigging testing, Happy sailing, Refrigerator compressor replacement, water inlet installation.
New main sail, new Shrouds. Sailing morning. Saturday morning we hoisted new sail and get out for sea trail new standing rigging. We went out today in 15–20 knots of wind. It was a great sail. Unfortunately, the weather didn't give us a chance to hoist the full mainsail, so we spent most of the day cruising at about 5–56 knots with the first reef in the main and just the "corner" of the jib. At one point a stronger gust hit—probably around 20+ knots—and the boat heeled all the way to the toe rail. Nothing excessive, just a normal reaction to a decent gust. About 5–10 minutes later I heard the bilge pump alarm. I jumped into the cabin and found 2–3 inches of water under the cabin sole. My boat has a very shallow bilge, so even 5–10 gallons of water creates a pretty dramatic-looking situation. My first thought was, "Houston, we have a problem." Since we weren't far from the marina, my immediate reaction was, "Let's head back." But that fe...