first sail of 2014

The first sail of the 2014 season was a success! But first we had to get the boats out of the back patio (their new winter storage) and at least one onto the trailer. This became a little more complicated than anticipated, because I’ve apparently let myself go in the arm strength department.

But first, let’s set the scene.

Over the winter, we moved into our new house and neighborhood. Our wishlist included either a three-car garage, walkout basement, or a big shed to store the boats. The garage being our ideal situation. None of these things happened. Instead, we have a two-car garage (with a small bump out in the back for some storage), a fully submerged basement, and no hopes for a large shed. We did, however, get a covered back patio. The boats seemed happy enough there for the winter.

(Why did we even buy this house you wonder? 1) We fell in love with it, and 2) It’s a block from a lake that we hope to sail on soon. More on that later.)

Our new lake, view from the dike. It was once a field.

But now it’s summer and time to sail and we want to use that patio for fun things that do not involve tripping over boats.

We first tried to tip a boat on its side and carry it out the door. I can lift my end, but the moment we move forward, I lose control of all that weight. Dang. And we couldn’t use my DIY dolly, because it’ll be too wide to get through the door, once you’ve got a boat sitting on it. So, I went out and go one of those little square furniture dollies from the hardware store and we tipped the boat on that and wheeled it out of the patio. Then we transferred it to the other dolly, which gave us better control and with little threat of the boat tipping off onto the concrete.

We do not have pictures of this comical process, because we were busy wrestling with two boats. Maybe one of our new neighbors snapped a photo or three to show their friends what the new yahoos are up to.

Then we put the bunks up on Frankentrailer, who has had quite the workout with several moves (ours and friends), hauling furniture finds back and forth, and making friends with a much bigger trailer.

Match made in heaven?

We trailered Woody and then decided to put Old Blue on the side of the garage for now. This is a temporary solution until Cap’n Mike builds a hoist in the garage. This has been on our to-do for awhile, but we didn’t want to invest the time and money in the previous house, and then it’s just been cold and busy at the new one. But we have attic access above the garage that should make installing the system relatively straight forward. Relatively.

Hopefully this set up doesn’t wick too much moisture into the boat (or garage siding). Guess we can’t dither around on this project.

But back to sailing! It was weekend forecasted with storms, so we decided to play things by ear and be ready to move. Sunday morning dawned gorgeous with a steady breeze, so we got up, had some coffee, and threw the straps on the boat and headed out. We had the foresight to pack some pita bread, hummus, and ginger beer in a cooler, too.

We did not, however, head to the ramps at “our” lake but went to our old stomping grounds. We very much intend to sail on our lake, but as we do not seem to have an easy beach launch area, we’ll need to practice docking. However, when I took a walk around on Saturday to survey things, I think we’ll be okay. The water levels are up on the ramp, and it’s positioned in what felt like a steady wind area, so we shouldn’t have issues getting in and out. We’ll just have to be careful where we sail, since this used to be a farm and trees still lurk under the surface.

When we got to the club, we were amazed that no one else was taking advantage of the wind (12-15 mph), especially with the forecast calling for increasing gusts in the afternoon and storms in the evening.

In the past, we’ve encountered various fails and goofs with getting out on the water, especially at the start of the season. This didn’t happen. Our only “hitch” came to the cleat hitch for the halyard, which we always brain fart on and have to attempt a couple times.

The wind was coming strong from the south and we launch from a north beach, in between two docks, and we’ve had troubles in this exact situation. Usually our old school rudder likes to pop out and we get pushed back to shore. This didn’t happen. Despite the bobbing as I tried to keep Woody from taking off, Mike got the rudder secured, I pulled the mainsheet in as I hopped in, and we took off, tacked before sweeping into the next dock, and headed out into choppy waters full of motorboats.

It was wonderful! Everything came back after such a long winter, and although the wind did do some big shifts, overall it was very steady and predictable for lake wind. We’d lose some power passing through the neck (around the point between the east and west parts), but we were always moving. Only once did we go into irons, and it was a very brief moment.

It was snack time, so we headed in at a brisk run. We could see other sailors gathering around the pavilion and someone had brought their hobie out to the beach. In our distraction, we must’ve missed the cues that the wind was going to shift right as we adjusted our line toward the dock. The boom came swinging and the boat heeled hard, but somehow we managed to not tip in the unexpected jibe. Humbled and a little frazzled, we stopped watchng the activities on shore and concentrated on getting ourselves back on course.

We had to dump some wind coming into the beach, as things were getting mighty gusty. More people were wandering around the club, though no one seemed to be hauling out any boats. A handful were hanging out on the “race officials” pontoon. We snacked on some hummus and pita and guzzled some ginger beer, then went to see what all the fuss was about.

Two Snipe teams were going to race, but there was a debate over the wind. Mike and I hoped to go out again, but it wasn’t looking promising and the motor traffic was getting heavier, too. But the breeze felt good, so we hung around, just enjoying the complete lack of winter. Finally the Snipes called it, and one of the crew rolled out a keg leftover from a wedding shower. We declined and decided to head home.

We’d left the house at 10 a.m. and were home by 2 p.m. and felt pretty satisfied. Plus, it was really nice having day left to accomplish other things.Not that we did. But we could have done. Weather permitting, I think we’ll become morning sailors on the weekends, and use our smaller neighborhood lake for weeknight sails (and figure our first couple of tries with dock rigging will be comic relief).

Going big

Saturday some club members invited us out onto their Catalina 16, which they call a Buick. This is vastly different to the "scooter" Sunfish.

It was an interesting morning. The forecast had us at 16-20 mph wind, but we only sometimes got up to 16. Neverless, it was a fun morning with storm bubbles drifting over the water (but not rumbling or dropping rain or lightning on us). Another clubber was giving a lesson on his 22 ft boat (pictured), and so we "raced" a few times, but he's got a faster boat, so we could only take advantage when his student overshot a tack. Of course, they caught up to us in minutes after that.

Overall, a fun day, and of course once we docked, that's when the clouds broke and the wind kicked up. We still prefer our little dinghies, but we are considering a bigger upgrade down the road. Still want something smaller than the Catalina 16, simply because we feel less connected to everything on it, but it IS a great boat for having friends & fam aboard.

Intermediate sailing begins next week!

Mike manning the jib - our first!

first sail/last sail

Old Blue watching the birds while we roll up the sail.

We sailed! For realz! Sunday we took Old Blue out for her first successful spin, now that we knew how to properly attach the halyard to the upper boom.

The wind was light with some gusts, the sun shining, the air warm in the 70s, and boaters were out grasping every last bit of season before Old Man Winter kills the fun.

While it was great to see so many people out, however, this meant chaos on the club ramp. Not chaos, but people were gabbing while s l o w l y bringing their boats out of the water. And then park the club truck in front of us, blocking us from getting down the ramp. *sigh*

But we got to enjoy the comfort of rigging on a beach rather than the ramp, and readjusted the halyard several times before we set out. Once out on the water, we realized we need to shift the lower boom a bit (loosen the goose, rotate, tighten back up), because the mainsheet blocks weren't hanging  down but to the side. But the winds were easy enough, we weren't too worried.

I grabbed our older camera and got some shots and video, but then had to put it in, as apparently Maverick and Goose were piloting the motorboat that buzzed by us for no apparent reason and we had some chop.

The wind started dying and the sun was going down, so we headed back in at a toodling run. A sail kayaker and his dog were on a starboard tack, and the collie looked ready to jump out after all the birds landing in the water. But the Good Dog stayed with his master.

As we de-rig, we noticed a dark bank of clouds rolling in and the wind picking up. Another club couple were bringing their boat in, but as the wind came up, they turned around. I guess they couldn't resist that last rush of wind!

So, that was probably our last sail for the year. This week is too jam-packed for both of us, and this weekend we will be in another state at a wedding! Once we get both boats under one roof, we'll do an inventory of gear and list out parts and repairs and come up with a winter tinkering strategy.

BUT WE GOT TO SAIL!

d'oh!

Untying the sail, unaware of the troubles that await.

We are road sailors. The running joke right now is that we just take our boats for a drive.

Tuesday we set out with good intentions and good weather. 70s and a light but good enough breeze to give Old Blue a maiden run.

Well.

Every experience as new boat owners reveals just what newbies we are. It is tremendously easier to just be a sailing club member, grab a boat, and sail it out. The club boats are on dollies, so we just wheel them down to the beach and dunk them. All the rigging is assembled.

Tuesday we learned we don't know how the halyard connects to the upper boom, i.e., how the frig to you connect the sail to the mast and raise it? We searched the boom for some sort of connection, then consulted the Internet. Unfortunately, our cell carrier chose that moment to be very slow (as it tends to do when we are in a rush).

So, we fibbed it by tying the halyard to the end of the upper boom. This is wrong. We realized how wrong when, once we had the boat in the water, we raised the sail. Things looked dubious. We commenced arguing over whether or not to sail, even though we could clearly see the sail wasn't sitting right and the mast had a decidedly perturbed look about it. Trust me, masts have expressions.

I, ever the stubborn worry wart, won the argument. Mike went back to get the trailer. We had an audience of fishermen and mothers going for jogs and walks. As embarrassing as this was, I did notice that a sailboat puts a smile on people's faces. So, that's neat.

We loaded the boat backward (stern to car) to see how that might help with weight distribution. Marginally. We've got to extend the tongue and put some more weight up front. Anyway, once we were up on dry land and weren't trying to hold a boat that wanted TO GET OUT THERE, GUYZ!, we tried to raise the sail, to see if we just sucked in the water (we are used to rigging on a beach).

Nope. Sail & mast were looking at us like Al Borland.

Then there was a little snap and a piece of plastic went flying off the mast cap. Dang. Brought the sail down and inspected the damage. Nothing big but enough that it would have been a bad situation on the water. The eyelet through the mast cap now had a sharp edge that could have cut the halyard rubbing against it. Dismasting could injure us and damage the boat.

So, really, we have floated our boats and taken them on bumpy rides all over the place. I think they will have identity issues before long.
 

Sailing with my bro

Yesterday was probably the last sailing day of the year (for get wet boats, anyway), and I took my older brother out for his "maiden voyage."

We got to the lake around 5 p.m., and the wind was definitely gusting. And the water was COLD! Although the air temperature nearly hit 70 and the sun was shining beautifully off the gold and red trees, the water did not seem to recover from a night in the 30s. There was plenty of swearing while pulling the club's Sunfish from the ramp to the beach.

Then there was more swearing as the sail and boat bucked and bobbed with the gusts during set up. I tried to turn the boat into the wind, but it would whip around as things would shift. It nearly took off on us at one point.

But we found an opening between gusts and took off for the open water.

And it was glorious.

Brother dear had never sail before. The wind was blowing perfectly to sail mostly on reaches, so we only needed to tack when to head up or down the eastern side of the lake. This was a good thing, because tacking with someone who has never sailed before can get complicated. Bro would go under the boom as I told him, but struggled with sheeting in (I've been there) and would forget to hop to the other side of the boat. He'd cling to dipped side of the boat and I'd have to tell him to hop to the other side. But we never capsized!

 It was just us and a jet skier pulling a buddy around and adding some fun chop. Hiked up with some good speed to echo the 'Whoohoos!' coming from the speed demons. Overall, it was a perfect sailing evening ...

... until you put your feet back in the water.

Looked up how much dry sailing socks cost. Ouch.