Friday night sail
27 April 2012 | Seaford
Abernathy
Second day out and about on the boat. Learned a few things about the boat, about the family on the boat, and about life.
Lets start with the conditions. Forecast was a nice 15knts coming from the NW, actual was 15-20knts at the mouth of the creek, and from the east.
The tiller tamer worked like a charm. It fixed all the problems I had with the rudder wondering. I also tossed a bungee cord on the tiller to help hold the rudder in mid position while motoring along.
I drove the boat down to the marina and arrived at 3:00. I had the boat ready to put into the water just as the family showed up. I had some trouble with the furling jib, which I think comes into play later during the sail. All in all I think I can get the rigging time down to about 45 minutes. The biggest tasks are tightening the rigging and inserting all the cotter loops, and rigging the main sail, it is large.
Got the boat in the water, cranked it up. The funny part is it ran out of gas right as we dropped the lines from the dock. Little tank, lots of run time. I think I got about 2.5 hours of actual motoring along on the boat at full power. The spare gas can in the cabin came in super handy. Filled it up and away we went..... long story short it was not an enjoyable experience for everyone.
The added wind, the boat heeled over, my youngest daughter didn't enjoy it at all. Add to it that my first mate (my eldest daughter) got confused with my instructions and with the lines. Needless to say, we bagged it after a few minutes, but in the process the jib did a lot of flapping and smacking around. While nothing was getting damaged, and there was no real issue, it was/can be scary to some one who is new to sailing. We finally motored in, and put the boat away for the evening. My wife stayed behind (GM took the kids home). We had a good time talking while I cleaned up the boat. She peeled off half the old owners stickers..... soon we will get the hull sticker less, buffed to a shine, and a new name..... that ceremony should be lots of fun....
So what did I learn? First, I should have some sort of check list for rigging the boat, dropping it in the water, and off we go.
Second, when sailing with a raw crew I need to give them a run down of what is going to happen, and listen to their expectations. If I had done that, I would have put a reef in the main, and not even pulled the jib out for the day. While slower, it would have kept the boat on its feet and kept everyone smiling which was the goal for the day.
SO what did I learn about the boat? Well, she is quick, and can be quick. She is also tender. She pops right up on her edge, but once there she was steady. With some weight on the rail, she will really clip along. I can only imagine what it would be to pop the kite on a day like today. Nothing like that will ever happen if I don't have a couple of experienced buddies with me.
All in all, not a great day on the water, just need to still get it figured out. I just hope it can still eventually be a family fun time that I have always wanted
The Friday night on the water was a great time though. My wife picking up the girls, me getting the boat ready, all of us setting off as soon as they are out of school. Hopefully this is something we can take with us at our next duty station.