fun day sailing

Allatoona

Member
The winds were really gusty today, so what a better day to get out on the lake. I reefed the main and launched off the boat ramp. I had my GPS with me and hit 9.6 mph on a broad reach. I wanted to raise the centerboard a little bit, but with the gusty/shifty winds I didn't want to go swimming so I kept it down. After a break I headed back out, this time made it to 9.8 mph, and a couple of times was cruising above 7 mph and did a little bit of surfing on the motorboat waves.

I got a bunch of questions from a young couple, they have a 1960-something 14' sailboat and wanted a lesson. This was not a day for beginners to get out by themselves, so I took them out for about 20 minutes on my Capri. I kept the main reefed, the boat felt slow with the extra ballast, but was still a lot of fun for them.

9.8 mph was the fastest I've gone so far on the Capri, it was a fun day and I'm seriously exhausted tonight. My repaired centerboard worked great.

-Robert
1989 Capri 14 mod 2
 
sounds like an awesome day sailing. How do you reef your main? Do you fly the jib when you are single handing? Why would you raise the centerboard at all?
 
reef and centerboard

I found a sailmaker and had him stitch in some grommets for reefing. It allows me to shorten the sail about 2 feet or more. I have some short cordage run through the grommets, to reef I pull the sail down and tie the cord around the boom. This is an easy way to reduce the size of the sail on days when the wind is blowing real hard.

On a broad reach or going downwind, you can raise the centerboard a little (or a lot if you are daring), this reduces drag to help give you a little more speed since you don't need the centerboard very much at this time. In steady or light air this is an easy task. But in heavy or gusty/shifty winds, raising the centerboard could be very risky. If you get a wind shift or a gust while you have the centerboard up, then you are probably capsizing the boat. Also, it's one more thing you must remember to take care of before you tack, or you will capsize for sure.... or if your boom jibs on your, your probably going swimming. I have raised the centerboard while racing on a downwind leg, but I wanted every advantage I could take against the big boats.

-Robert
 
single handing

I forgot to mention, I always fly both sails.

The reefing points allows me more control in real heavy air while sailing solo. This is only the second time that I have reefed the sail, I like a challenge and lots of sail area.

-Robert
 
I am with you Alatoona

2 sails or nothing. Sailing on just main, or just jib on the capri, is just nuts.

The reef points make it a blast to sail her in much heavier winds.
 

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