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).

snug as a bug

Woody and Blue are checking out their winter digs. The boys hauled the AMFlite (Woody, for now) downstairs and folded up the trailer. Each boat is sitting on a set of a trailer bunks, which does take up a lot of floor space (each boat is about 14 feet by 4 feet), but it'll do for now.

I think I need to shift the aft bunk farther back on Blue (how is deck down right now). We discovered that Blue is definitely heavier than Woody, though we do not know if this is due to damp flotation blocks from a leak or just manufacturing differences. No water came out of the tiny drain holes, but there won't be enough air circulating to dry it out. That'll come when we put deck plates in.

Upon putting Woody on the deck up bunks, we discovered the hull is slightly varied from the actual Sunfish, so it "floats" over the cradles in some spots (but it seemed to be okay). We might add extra cushioning to the bunks to compensate, or we'll just always trailer it deck down.

The trailer folded up and wheeled nicely into the basement, so now it's hanging out with all the lawn care equipment. I would like to clean dirty and lake scum off it this winter and maybe wax it, since this isn't a galvanized trailer and will be prone to rusting.

Before we headed off to friends for the "big game" (yes, those are sarcastic quote marks), I started in on organizing the basement and trying to clear things out. Nothing shrinks a basement like two boats! We will be hanging the spars and good sail against the stairwell wall, once we get around to putting the hooks in (for now the spars are on the floor, sail is in the canvas bag. I'd like to set up a rack or the rudder and daggerboards, too.

Although I'm hoping the in-laws take it back, I'm using this giant TV stand bureau thing as my organizer for all our boat stuff. An even bigger dresser is currently in the middle of the floor and pretending to be a work table for the rudders and daggerboards. Before we had to leave for an afternoon of shenangians, I managed to free all the line from the AMF spars and remove the sail.

It's not exactly in great shape. I'm pretty tempted to wash it the wrong way and recycle it or something. Make bags or pouches out of it to hold other stuff. It's not a happy sail. The crispness is gone, there are several taped and untaped holes, and lots of black grease spots that are not coming out. We tried the gentle clean method and nothing would budge, and taking some intense product to it would destroy it as a sail. It also looked really stretched out on the spars, so I'm ready to buy an Intensity Sail and call it good.

I'm working today (Sunday) at the university library, so it's driving me nuts I can't be working on the basement. I just want things set up nicely so we can get crackin' on those deck plate! Tomorrow, hopefully, we can make headway since we are both home. Want to get our babies drying!