It floats!

[SPC Paul]

Howdy everyone, from sunny, cool MICHIGAN! It is great to be back. I pulled in my parent's driveway yesterday and didn't even go inside. I went straight to the boat. My step-dad and I stumbled our way through learning to rig it. (Lesson learned: Don't put two people in the back of the boat while it's on the trailer. The bow was about 10 feet off the ground. Scary, but no damage.)

We practiced raising/lowering the mast a couple of times, and I replaced all my halyards and sheets. Got the motor mounted and running. That's one good thing about a 26S, I don't have to try and lift a 50HP outboard. My 8HP weighs about 30 or 40 pounds.

I woke up this morning and put my genoa on the furler. That took some figuring out, but I finally got it. (Or so I thought) We trailered the boat down to Lake Superior about a mile away. We got the boat rigged in 15 minutes, and launching went incredibly smooth. We pulled away from the dock and motored about a half mile to south Portage Entry Lighthouse. Waves were about 3-4 feet, winds about 15 knots. Sunny skies, and temps of about 70. I dropped the centerboard and rudder, raised the main and away we went. We spent a while getting a feel for how it handled, practicing tacks and gybes. After getting comfortable with the main, we unfurled the genoa. Turned out that was a bad idea. The winds had picked up and the fully unfurled genny quickly overpowered the boat. We heeled way over and rounded up into the wind, which succeeded in scaring the living hull out of my mother. I attempted to roll in the genoa, only to discover that my furling drum was improperly wound. I pulled on the line to furl the sail, and after about 5 turns, the line ran out. So now I've got a 150% genoa flapping around in too much wind and no way to wind it in. I solved the problem by simply going forward and turning the drum with my hands. Got a little wet doing it, but it worked. We continued under main alone until we got about 2 miles out, then we turned back because the waves were starting to build.

Docking went absolutely perfect. We had a wicked cross wind and a really narrow ramp, but I nailed it. I'd like to call it skill, but it was probably mostly luck, considering I'd never docked a boat in my life. As I pulled up to the dock, another sailor who was on his way to Bermuda caught my lines and said, "Wow, wish my boat could get in the shallow!"

Had a little trouble getting the boat all the way forward on the trailer, but I tried out the "Macgregor Bump" and it worked fine. Ballast was drained and the mast was taken down in about 25 minutes. My mother kept saying how she couldn't believe how smoothly everything went considering it was my first time sailing. If it wasn't for this board and the knowledge shared by all its members, I'm sure my shakedown cruise would have been a lot shakier.

SPC Jared Paul
"Old Ironsides"
1991 Mac 26S

[mike]

Hey, welcome home! Glad to hear your maiden sail went relatively well. Keep us updated on your learning progress!

--Mike

[Rich Smith]

Great stuff Paul! Glad you're back safe and sound...happy sailing!

Rich.

[Don T]

Hello Paul:
Hey, there's no better time than the first. Glad you're home to enjoy sailing.
Fair winds!

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Paul,

Glad your back. Not to insult you with a silly question, but you didn't mention it in your description so I have to ask, did you fill the ballast tank when you headed out under sail? Are you sure it was really full all the way? It seems like you were overpowered too easily and that sounds like a tank empty situation. With the tank full the classic 26's stand up pretty well even in strong winds.

Enjoy your boat.

[Catigale]

Jared

Welcome home!

I bet your dock went well becuase Im guessing you were a cool cucumber - whenever I try to get hasty is when I get into trouble. THe other thing I learned is not to be afraid to wave off if its a bad approach due to current or wind.

Make sure your rudder lines are pulled up tight, either up or down. I spent a season on the water with hard steering until I figured this out. YOu need to bang the rudders against the stop to make sure they are in the right position.

I tried the FF2 bearing upgrade and really liked it this year.

My first trip out was highlighted with> dragging anchor, hard rocks, rounding up genoa, me almost overboard holding on to a loose genoa in 20+ wind, genoa line wrapped around prop , and us skating across Lake Champlain at 10 knots completely, utterly out of control.

But it was our 14 anniversary and the kids were at Grandmas and we had three days to try out all the berths....

Off topic - Had one of those business anecdotes in the airport yesterday - Usual hassle, plane delay and a gate agent dealing with a load of angry customers. Everyone's hassling this poor gal who is doing a good job.
Guy in front of gets his options, thanks her and comments - "I survived a plane crash in 89, so a flight delay doesnt really rile me too much."

You could have heard a pin drop.

Stephen & Barbara

Catigale

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

As we used to say: "Any flight is a good flight if no one is shooting at you."