We were out on Belfast Lough because we wanted to try out out our cruising chute and suss out other things like the blocks and how to use it. If you are in any doubt, we have never used a cruising chute before, not even on a dinghy. So the first thing that we had to suss out was the blocks, in the marina we had that much stuff on the cleats, there simply was no space. So Beverley simple tied the blocks that we had purchased with a round turn and two half hitches, then used an OXO knot to tie the block to the cheat. Next came the sail itself, so we sorted out the sheets making sure that one sheet went in front of the furler, then it was just a case of hoisting the chute. For us this is not that easy, as we only have one set of winches at the back, so we have to furl in the Genoa before we hoist the cruising chute. There is no shielding of the cruising chute for us, but this is one of the reasons we have to have a snuffer. Once we had lifted the cruising chute we felt that our sheets were crossed, so we had to undo the sheets and swop them around. When we did this we failed to put one of the sheets forward of the furler. We also added a S for Starboard to one of the clews at the bottom of the sail. We have no idea if this will help but, it might and we are at the start of our learning curve. We managed to sort out the lines then it was time to raise ther snuffer. For the most part this was okay, apart from the fact that the snuffer did not raise all the way to the top like it did when we tried it out on deck. I think I had got the snuffer rope tangled with the continuous line and the halyard, there was defiantly an issue up there. On top of this the winds died to 2knots , so I never got to test the sail and check that it could pull the boat. With the wind continuing to be low and the light failing, we decided to take the cruising chute down and head back into the marina.

Back in the Marina, I looked at our cruising chute and snuffer and my lines were tangled. I think that the reason for this was because the continuous loop and the line that held the snuffer up were using the same tab, so what I decided to do was add some more tabs so that the continuous loop and the rope that held the snuffer up were at 90° to each other. I also decided that I would put the continuous loop on the outside of the snuffer. There was a lot of line to sort out, and I got my knickers in a twist once or twice, but eventually, I got everything sorted to my satisfaction.

While I was sorting out lines, Beverley continued to look after Salty Lass, by putting diesel into the tank. When we put diesel into a tank from a diesel tank then we always use a Jiggle hose. A Jiggle hose is a self priming syphon, which means that you do not need to suck on the hose to create suction, which is fantastic news.

We have a new snuffer, from one of our friends. One of our friends watch our channel and when they realised that we were having to make our own snuffer, they decided that they would donate their spare snuffer to us, there are a few lines and shackles to sort out, but I will do it.