After a very long and exciting 2016 season, LUCIE is in for a much needed yacht spa treatment. Over the course of the last year, LUCIE has been launched and hauled on five separate occasions; she sailed hard for 20 days last season, moved to Switzerland for the 6 Meter European Championship, then moved to San Francisco for the StFYC Invitational and back to Newport, which is a lot of stress and moving for an 85-year-old lady. It is time now for some TLC.

Over the past two weeks we have been in “all hands on deck” mode. Here are a few things that have happened so far:

We started by taking LUCIE off her trailer, which is rather unusual but this spring we have work to do on the forward trailer bunk as well as some of the plank seams. LUCIE is also due for a fresh coat of Baltoplate, as well as some wet sanding and polishing, all of which needs to be done off the trailer.

With all areas of LUCIE fully accessible we first focused on the issues below the waterline, like the planking seams that had started to leak a bit. We knew about these leaks for a while, as we always notice it when we launch LUCIE every spring. It all swells up after 48 hours but when sailing hard upwind the loads on the hull were causing some minor leaking, making for a wet butt and back when crouching below deck. All leaks below the waterline are now fixed, but we’ll get the final confirmation after the first sail in May.

From there we moved on to the topsides. Last season took quite a toll on LUCIE; the topsides were clearly showing it and deserved a proper fairing and some minor repairs. We started out by fixing the covering board to the sheer strake seam, which every season cracks the paint due to the different direction of the wood grain in the construction. This crack in the paint along the sheer was more of a nuisance than a real problem, but we now eliminated it for good.

The topsides received a very deep fairing with longboards, any and all small dents were removed, the paint line covering the boards on deck was faired and the painted waterline was corrected (it was low at the stern with a bit wobbly forward). LUCIE again shows a really crisp and clean waterline, which makes quite an impact visually. From there, the topsides were primed and received a first coat of paint. The final coat will be one of the last things we do in about three weeks.

Both the mast and the boom received TLC; both were inspected and all running gear washed, brightwork prepped and two fresh coats of varnish applied.

As we were going through the boat a few smaller things caught our attention: the lifting eyes for the single point lift need replacement and the wooden blocks on deck for the running backstays are worn out and need a rebuild.

Our work on LUCIE will push on for another two or three weeks, so that we have her in the best and strongest condition for the 2017 season. The launch is planned for May 15 in Newport. From there, the crew will start training and tuning the boat. LUCIE’s first regatta this season will be the Meterfest in Newport, June 9-11.

— Jens Lange

More photos:

LUCIE had a long 2015 season, participating in three big events, all in different waters: The 6 Metre World Championship in France, the Panerai Museum of Yachting Regatta in Newport, R.I., the St. Francis Yacht Club 6 Metre Invitational in San Francisco, Calif. LUCIE sailed in all conditions, from less than five knots of wind up to 25 knots in wind gusts. We learned a lot about LUCIE and how she behaves in these different conditions, all with the same boat setup and mostly the same crew. Knowing this about LUCIE, the crew designed a plan for the off-season and we are focusing on a few areas that we believe will advance her even further.

The 2016 season plan has LUCIE going to Switzerland in July to participate in the 6 Meter European Championship. Prior to this, LUCIE will be participating in a trial event in Newport, R.I. in early May. During this time, we plan to take a more analytical approach with data recording, supported by the team at DOYLE sails. In a few weeks, we will temporarily equip LUCIE with data gathering and recording devices.

In the meantime, we are working on some maintenance and improvement issues. At the end of last season, we started noticing some deterioration on the spreader attachments on the mast, some of the welds were suspect, and the overall integrity of the fittings started to slide. Working with one of our favored metal fabricators, we started the process of replacing the bronze wings of the spreader attachments, but once the mast bands were cleaned up we decided to replace them as well, so all new spreader attachment hardware it is; these pieces of hardware are most essential to keep the mast where it is supposed to be, so all of this work is well worth it. At this point, the new bands are being fitted and all old fastener holes in the mast have been filled, bunged and trimmed.

We are also giving more trim control to the aft cockpit for the coming season, we are therefore adding two small trim shelves in the aft cockpit, to improve handling of the vang and cunningham. We will also route the outhaul from the boom back to the aft cockpit. There will be a lot of load on these two trim shelves, so we went the extra length to built them with a locking miter joint and attachment under the deck.

Photo gallery of the work being done: