Second time out
Posted: Tue May 12, 2020 9:54 pm
This is an essay. If too long, I had a good day out.
You have all been here before, so critique away, and expedite my learning!
Took advantage of the relaxed rules, can now travel 50 clicks.
Last Thursday I went out to Lake Cania. Enclosed freshwater inland reservoir.
I went out on the same dam in January, first time out. Busy as with powerboats, almost no breeze. Only me in the boat, but wife on shore. Low key but a good easy intro.
This one was different. I went out to the dam on my own, left about 6am. Forecast winds 8 to 10 knots with gusts up to about double that. I packed thermos, coffee, sandwiches and tied 20c in the corner of my hanky.
Got there just before 7 and started rigging up. I took my time so I could try to establish an MO, a protocol. The goal was to only climb the ladder once before launching. Made a coffee and took my time. Lifted the outboard box out of the mighty Tribute and fitted the outboard. Carried the rudder from the car and placed it behind the boat. Can't fit it yet because my mast prop uses the top rudder pintle.
Stepping up the mast was the easy part. Working through the next steps, actually hooking up the sails, took some time. Set jib with downhaul.
When I stepped off I fitted the rudder.
All up, took about an hour being very methodical. I see where Ray can do it in about half an hour. That's my goal, and I think very doable, with practice.
Due to the recent discussion about the need to tilt the trailer, I tried to be scientific. I had all the time in the world at the ramp. It was just me and the crows and the pelicans. It is a pretty steep ramp. I didn't tilt, a bit of a push and Timeless slipped away quick. I walked her to the adjacent sand beach, dropped the anchor over the front into the sand and took the car and trailer back to the car park.
When I came back, I climbed over the bow. That's a poofight. Walked aft, fitted tiller and fired up the mighty Mariner. While it warmed up I rang my wife and said all's good and pulled the anchor in. The dam is like glass, no wind. Not Lake Cania, it's Lake Geoff, I own it. Tied the motor off and used the rudder to steer, dropped the centreboard.
Motorsailed for a while. In the next hour the breeze picked up gently, so killed the donk and raised the sails. I can't imagine conditions for a better training run. Dead calm at the start and gently increasing wind as the morning went on. Good fun, going from totally ignorant to gaining a little understanding of cause and effect as it applies to sailing.
I put the bimini up early, but dropped it as it interfered with my view of the sails and my 'wah'. During the morning, 2 tinnies launched, each with a couple aboard, and both only on the lake for about 20 minutes. Checking crab pots I think. Still Lake Geoff.
About 11am, the breeze had picked up. Some big gusts gave me a scare. All relative, I have read posts of other's, and watched youtube vids. Nothing like that. But first hits and learning how to use the mainsheet and tiller to negate it was pretty empowering. And I had planned to practice mainsail reefing, so I did. I had changed the reefing setup on the boom and was keen to try it. Worked great. Went straight to second reef. The difference was unbelievable. From scary to training wheels.
So I played around on my private lake for a couple more hours and headed home. On retrieving I tilted the trailer, and the winch load was much easier than without.
Next time I am going to try parking the boat starboard parallel to the beach when I launch, and climbing in over the transom ladder, and even firing up the eggbeater in that pozzie.
You have all been here before, so critique away, and expedite my learning!
Took advantage of the relaxed rules, can now travel 50 clicks.
Last Thursday I went out to Lake Cania. Enclosed freshwater inland reservoir.
I went out on the same dam in January, first time out. Busy as with powerboats, almost no breeze. Only me in the boat, but wife on shore. Low key but a good easy intro.
This one was different. I went out to the dam on my own, left about 6am. Forecast winds 8 to 10 knots with gusts up to about double that. I packed thermos, coffee, sandwiches and tied 20c in the corner of my hanky.
Got there just before 7 and started rigging up. I took my time so I could try to establish an MO, a protocol. The goal was to only climb the ladder once before launching. Made a coffee and took my time. Lifted the outboard box out of the mighty Tribute and fitted the outboard. Carried the rudder from the car and placed it behind the boat. Can't fit it yet because my mast prop uses the top rudder pintle.
Stepping up the mast was the easy part. Working through the next steps, actually hooking up the sails, took some time. Set jib with downhaul.
When I stepped off I fitted the rudder.
All up, took about an hour being very methodical. I see where Ray can do it in about half an hour. That's my goal, and I think very doable, with practice.
Due to the recent discussion about the need to tilt the trailer, I tried to be scientific. I had all the time in the world at the ramp. It was just me and the crows and the pelicans. It is a pretty steep ramp. I didn't tilt, a bit of a push and Timeless slipped away quick. I walked her to the adjacent sand beach, dropped the anchor over the front into the sand and took the car and trailer back to the car park.
When I came back, I climbed over the bow. That's a poofight. Walked aft, fitted tiller and fired up the mighty Mariner. While it warmed up I rang my wife and said all's good and pulled the anchor in. The dam is like glass, no wind. Not Lake Cania, it's Lake Geoff, I own it. Tied the motor off and used the rudder to steer, dropped the centreboard.
Motorsailed for a while. In the next hour the breeze picked up gently, so killed the donk and raised the sails. I can't imagine conditions for a better training run. Dead calm at the start and gently increasing wind as the morning went on. Good fun, going from totally ignorant to gaining a little understanding of cause and effect as it applies to sailing.
I put the bimini up early, but dropped it as it interfered with my view of the sails and my 'wah'. During the morning, 2 tinnies launched, each with a couple aboard, and both only on the lake for about 20 minutes. Checking crab pots I think. Still Lake Geoff.
About 11am, the breeze had picked up. Some big gusts gave me a scare. All relative, I have read posts of other's, and watched youtube vids. Nothing like that. But first hits and learning how to use the mainsheet and tiller to negate it was pretty empowering. And I had planned to practice mainsail reefing, so I did. I had changed the reefing setup on the boom and was keen to try it. Worked great. Went straight to second reef. The difference was unbelievable. From scary to training wheels.
So I played around on my private lake for a couple more hours and headed home. On retrieving I tilted the trailer, and the winch load was much easier than without.
Next time I am going to try parking the boat starboard parallel to the beach when I launch, and climbing in over the transom ladder, and even firing up the eggbeater in that pozzie.
