We went out sailing yesterday for the third time in my 86 model 1. The first two times we went there was almost no wind, so with the wind forecast to be 10-25 I had my hopes up.
The nearby lake I am learning to sail on has power lines over the boat ramp so I have to tie up to the dock to raise the mast. We put up the main with the intention of putting the jib on once we were further out on the water.
My son wanted to sail away from the dock instead of using the trolling motor so we put everything but the jib sheet and paddle into the cubby. It was difficult to get the boat moving, but eventually we got away from the dock.
The boat ramp is not on the main part of the lake where we wanted to sail and the wind kept pushing us towards a bridge and the rocks on the shore, but I finally got some wind in the sail. At this point we had been pushed within 25 yards of the rocks. Just then my son saw we were about to hit some power/phone lines running accross the end of the lake, I just had time to pull the mainsheet all the way in and heel us over to go under the lines and then we went over.
The Baby Bob worked great. We had talked about what has to be done when you go over, but when you do it for the first time, figuring out how to get into position for the scoop, uncleating the main ( which had become cleated at some point as we went over ) and the travellers takes a little while. I climbed up on the centerboard and supervised. The Bob allowed for the entire situation to be calm and unpanicked. I'm sure we looked like we knew what we were doing to the people on the shore!
We lost the Jibsheet and one flipflop. Everything in the cubby moved around, the trolling motor battery migrated down under one of the seats because I forgot to tie it down, but I was able to squirm in and reach it.
Eventually we dropped the mast and motored back to the dock, but not after being pushed onto the rocks at the shore, I will go out in a little while and see what damage there is.
Anyway, we sailed for another 4 or 5 hours with Mainsail only and had a blast. It would have been easier with a Jib but, oh well.
Lessons learned :
Tie everything down, if I'd tied one end of the jib sheet to something I would still have it, and battery would have been easier to get to.
Look out for power lines on the water. We'd been sailing twice before and never spotted those lines.
Build a stronger mount for the mast float.
I built my mount out of 1/16th Aluminum and when the float hit the water it bent the Aluminum and the base of the float mount. I think if I had a solid mount like some I've seen on this board, the mount base would have stayed straight. see the pictures.
Anyway, we weren't electrocuted, had a great time, learned some lessons, and now I am not concerned about going over in the future.
John
The nearby lake I am learning to sail on has power lines over the boat ramp so I have to tie up to the dock to raise the mast. We put up the main with the intention of putting the jib on once we were further out on the water.
My son wanted to sail away from the dock instead of using the trolling motor so we put everything but the jib sheet and paddle into the cubby. It was difficult to get the boat moving, but eventually we got away from the dock.
The boat ramp is not on the main part of the lake where we wanted to sail and the wind kept pushing us towards a bridge and the rocks on the shore, but I finally got some wind in the sail. At this point we had been pushed within 25 yards of the rocks. Just then my son saw we were about to hit some power/phone lines running accross the end of the lake, I just had time to pull the mainsheet all the way in and heel us over to go under the lines and then we went over.
The Baby Bob worked great. We had talked about what has to be done when you go over, but when you do it for the first time, figuring out how to get into position for the scoop, uncleating the main ( which had become cleated at some point as we went over ) and the travellers takes a little while. I climbed up on the centerboard and supervised. The Bob allowed for the entire situation to be calm and unpanicked. I'm sure we looked like we knew what we were doing to the people on the shore!
We lost the Jibsheet and one flipflop. Everything in the cubby moved around, the trolling motor battery migrated down under one of the seats because I forgot to tie it down, but I was able to squirm in and reach it.
Eventually we dropped the mast and motored back to the dock, but not after being pushed onto the rocks at the shore, I will go out in a little while and see what damage there is.
Anyway, we sailed for another 4 or 5 hours with Mainsail only and had a blast. It would have been easier with a Jib but, oh well.
Lessons learned :
Tie everything down, if I'd tied one end of the jib sheet to something I would still have it, and battery would have been easier to get to.
Look out for power lines on the water. We'd been sailing twice before and never spotted those lines.
Build a stronger mount for the mast float.
I built my mount out of 1/16th Aluminum and when the float hit the water it bent the Aluminum and the base of the float mount. I think if I had a solid mount like some I've seen on this board, the mount base would have stayed straight. see the pictures.
Anyway, we weren't electrocuted, had a great time, learned some lessons, and now I am not concerned about going over in the future.
John
