What a day! Good day, but with issues.....
I launched at Keyport Ramp at about noon, and motored out to the middle of the harbor, well away from moored boats (and a good thing, too). When I raised the sail, the head of the sail got hung up in the lazy jacks cause I wasn't bow to the wind. There were lines all OVER the cockpit. I know better, but let myself get distracted. The main sail sheet got tangled around itself and a lazy jack line, so wen the wind caught almost raised sail, off we went. I had the rudder down and the centerboard down, so we started to move a little prematurely. Good thing I learned early to keep my head down - we had an unexpected jibe! I got the boat into the wind and cleared the lines and finished raising the sail and passed my cardiac stress test all at the same time!
The lesson is to keep the lines cleared and free until I'm ready to go. It was well and truly learned today (again).
The sail over to Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island was pretty uneventful. Some chop and gusting winds, but nothing to get worked up about. The sail back to Keyport was SLOW as January molasses!.. I had to sail dead into the wind, which is impossible, so I had to tack a bunch of times. I think the tide was going out, cause I could not make headway. I sailed past the Keansburg amusement park three times before I gave up and dropped the sails and motored back! I'm glad I wired the lights - I needed them by the time I got to the ramp. It was dark!
Reenie K does not tack well in light airs. She's too light to have enough momentum to complete the tack, so she gets about half way and then drops back onto the original tack. That was a little scary when I was close to a very large boat dredging a channel! Quite accidentally, I found the solution. The Trick is to leave the jib locks on the original tack. The boat turns, and the wind fills the jib, but it's on the wrong side of the boat. That forces the bow around onto the new tack. That's when you set the main and the jib on the correct tack. It's called backing the jib. My last sailboat was a lateen rig, with one triangular sail, so I never really had to do that. Glad I spent some time reading!
On the ride home, the boat slipped forward and sideways on the trailer because I hadn't centered it correctly. There was no way I could do anything on the road, so I took a slow ride home. Note that if you grip the steering wheel REALLY tight, the boat stays on the trailer. I don't know why that is, but I found it impossible to relax my grip!
I got home all in one piece and with the boat on the trailer. From now on, I carry chains and a come-along in case it happens again.
So a few valuable lessons learned without a lot of pain or suffering. I'll add the few pics I took later.
Next entry will be a while. I go on-call next week (darn!)
