Shake down cruise
31 May 2017
• 2017 Memorial Weekend Cruise on Oz
by Keith, excellent weather
And what an adventure it was. We cruised with a buddy boat from Marina Riel to Julio Via Anchorage and then sailed back with the shaft detached from the new coupling; hand steering on the return. The good things were that the boat cruises like a champ and handles ocean conditions stoutly, the bad was that we are still working out the kinks, to put it mildly. The electric started to give us trouble around departure on the second day of the cruise and we almost turned back, but it worked again and we were able to motor sail up wind on auto pilot to our final destination. Once the engine was off, there was no electrics, pretty much. Went to sleep that night by flashlight. Next morning we discovered the lack of propulsion as we tried to raise the anchor. We had to sail it back and hand steer for lack of electricity for the auto pilot. I would not have experienced the boat's sailing characteristics like that had we not been in that situation. I was impressed. Fortunately, it was a downhill run the whole way into the outside of the marina, where we did a quick turnaround into the wind and anchored temporarily before we were deftly towed in to the Marina by Manuel just as we started to drag. I have sailed farther distances and I have sailed in worse conditions, but I have never sailed 30 some miles in an ocean cruising yacht without aid of an engine. Definitely made me more focused on the sailing and boat trim and such. It reminded me, metaphorically, of gliding a large airplane to landing. It can be done safely if the approach is from the sea and not along land, where there is no room if something goes wrong. It felt like an accomplishment for both of us, but not one that we care to repeat again soon unless absolutely necessary.
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