The Bridge to Breakers: a winch handle and a shiner

The Bridge to Breakers weekend was forecast to be a scorcher, 40c to 41c, but dry with a delightful 10 knot northerly. Noela and Nicky were again crewing although Nicky was on light duties with a frozen shoulder.

We weren't racing but just enjoying a sail down river to the Goodwood Mark and back as spectator fleet. So we  decided to shelter from the sun under the bimini, it does reduce vision a bit but we weren't frizzled. A few dinghy sailors ended up pretty dehydrated. Luckily the temperature on the river didn't get much over 30c but the wind was well above forecast, around 15 knots gusting 18 at times. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. A great sail and we had fun dodging the fleet who were all intent on racing.

There were a couple of incidents that I should put on record (I won't put on record a couple of dodgy gybes which proved that Little Dragon behaves very calmly when a dinghy would have capsized).

First, that damn jib furler. We tested it out several times before setting off and the jib furled and unfurled just fine. When we needed to furl before coming in to the shore it just refused. I am at my wits end over how to fix this problem. Ideas?

Second, the trailer winch handle flew out and hit me hard on the cheek when I started to winch Little Dragon in. My fault as I assume I hadn't locked the handle on properly. Now I have a splendid shiner (no photos). It missed my eye by about half an inch. I keep saying I won't make the same mistake twice and I certainly don't intend to do that again.