Finally got a good chance to sail the new (to us) Santana 23 this
weekend.

We went out with 5 people aboard on Friday, the wind was light & water
calm. The boat has a 155% genoa that I didn't know was on board, the
boat powered up readily in 4~6 knots of wind and seemed to move quite
well.

After sailing out into the middle of the river, we set the spinnaker
and played with various angles from slightly-above-the-beam reaching
to DDW. The spinnaker is 3/4oz runner but will fly fairly well on
reaches. It's solid red.

Yesterday we went out in 8~12knot winds, river still fairly calm
(there was a bit of a chop but the biggest waves we saw were motorboat
wakes). We set the "new" (according to the previous owner) blade jib,
it's a hi-tech Quantum sail that looks great and sets very well. I
wouldn't really call it a "blade" because the clew is high (maybe 20"
off the deck) but it's still a great jib for stronger wind, about 105%
LP. With only 2 people on the boat, we didn't have any hiking weight
and the main + near-blade heeled us to 15~20 degrees in gusts and the
boat was powered up and pointed high. Easy to tack too.

The spinnaker pole gear needs some re-rigging, it is all "present &
accounted for" but it doesn't work smoothly and many of the lines are
led with too much friction and not tailed to the right place for the
crew. I need to drill some more adjustment holes in the genoa sheet
track, the holes are about 8" apart and the sheet block cannot be set
in the right spot.... for example, the blade was set with either the
foot too tight or the leach too tight. Finally, I want to do some work
on the rudder & tiller because the helm feels heavy in turns and there
is too much play.

The boat is sitting on it's trailer at the sailing club, waiting for
me to take it out again... plus work on some these little projects...

Fresh Breezes- Doug King