allyn dave
New Member
My wife and I recently bought a small place on the Puget Sound and I have always wanted a small fast sailing dinghy . Being new to sailing I thought a Sunfish would be a good start . As it turned out a Super Porpoise came up for sale 6 houses down the beach from me and at $350 I could not turn it down .I even sailed it home . The hull is perfect and the deck is very sun faded so I rubbed it out and waxed it . I've only sailed it 3 times so far . The first 2 where in mild winds , Saturday the wind was moving pretty good , I would say there were 2 ft. rollers that were breaking . I ran into 2 problems , first was the hiking straps , I was wearing some kayak booties but with the freshly waxed sides and I could not get traction( the hiking straps on a Porpoise are mount to the sides of the cockpit) . I'd get the boat healed over and I would be leaning out and my feet would slide off to one side of the cock pit or the other . Did I screw up by waxing the sides of the cockpit , or is there a shoe that could be recommended that will give me traction ? The second problem was the wind itself . My first tack across the bay was awesome . I will say I was in way over my head but the speeds were epic . But when I went to turn and tack back the wind changed from a south west to a west and I stalled out . Once I figured out what happened it was almost to late , I don't know how I did not flip but it was a rush , frustration to panic and then shear speed across the bay . I fought the wind for about an hour before I gave up . It seemed to change every minute or so which made it impossible for me to get back to my place so I beached it in defeat and walked it back to my place . Is there a secret to sailing these kind of conditions or do you wait for more consistent winds ? For those of you that have sailed the south Puget Sound are the stronger wind always inconsistent or was this just weird weather ?
Thanks , Dave
Thanks , Dave