John and I stepped the mast and rigged her up in record time. She was floating in no time. Of course, as soon as we were ready to motor out, about five fishing boats lined up right behind us. No problem, just made it a bit tighter there. I think the fishing boats expect my boat to be as nimble as theirs... it is not. Anyway, we launched without managing to ram or tick off the other boaters and we were off. Motored out a bit and raised the sails. We got in the slot and were cruising at a good clip in 5-6 mph wind for about thirty or forty minutes. Then the wind completely died and the lake surface turned to glass. We decided to make the best of the situation by dropping the sails and motoring about for a while.
I thought it might be a good time to try out the autohelm. It worked like a charm! I don't know what I expected but this thing is a dream! We pointed her at the dock from about half a mile out and both stood on the bow as she cruised for about twenty minutes. The picture shows what a simple setup it is. The mainsheet system is also visible in this shot, it really makes for an open, uncluttered cockpit.
Wish we had better wind, but it was fun anyway. My friend Mikey is in town so we are going to go again tomorrow. Hopefully we will have more favorable conditions. Also, Courtney and I are taking the boat to saltwater on Dec. 8th. We intend to cruise the Outer Banks near Hatteras Lighthouse for a day, but more on that later. This will likely be Cassidy's last sail for the winter. I am busy planning my winter boat projects and am anxious to start.
2 comments:
What is that newfangled device? Is that your cannon?
That is the autohelm... but I could probably modify it to be an auxiliary cannon.
Mikey brought his own cannon, Cassidy currently is sans onboard firepower (other than my trusty sidearm).
Post a Comment