A short "boys only" break this weekend saw Col (Happy Jax II) and I leave Brundall at about 5:00pm yesterday afternoon for a trip down to Reedham for an overnighter. A few beers (well, rather a lot actually), some grub, a very late night, and a full english at the Cupcakes cafe saw us heading for Breydon in the sunshine this morning at about 11:00.
Once on Breydon we gave Serenity a good thrashing up and down several times trying to get the speed log calibrated about right, and she performed with no problems at all!
The horrible list to starboard that happened when we got onto the plane at new years has gone (probably the combination of prop damage and incorrect readings from the trim tab head unit, I suspect), trim tabs are working fine, and the engines run sweeeeeet! I was also very surprised at how much difference trimming the legs correctly made. Moving them from -1 to +2 instantly gave a speed boost that was very noticable.
At full throttle (4000 rpm) we topped over 30 kts (SOG) against the tide, but a good cruise speed of 27 kts at 3700 seemed very comfortable.
After several runs (about 15 miles in total) I am very happy with the way she performed, and a little less nervous of her now. Col enjoyed taking her up on the plane too, as indicated by a grin the cheshire cat would have been proud of. Hopefully he'll post up a couple of "wake shots" later (unless he's catching up on beauty sleep already
The only downer on the trip was my hamfisted maneuver leaving the Brooms filling quay, which saw a sudden gust of wind and my resulting panic, bumping another boat. The other boat was completely unmarked (thankfully) but Serenity suffed a 5 inch scratch in the gelcoat above the rubbing trip . I'm afraid my lack of experience with this boat showed itself rather badly.
All in all though, a great weekend in good company, and I can't wait for next weekend now
UP THE SALTY BOTTOMS!
ps Leroy, I shall not take the p**s out of you running onto the mud ever again. Nuff said, say no more, must concentrate harder. Phew got away with that one