First day out
Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:04 am
MacGregor Owners:
First day out; it was a rather cold, windy day.
Cindy and I put our new Mac in the water on Sunday (4/17) for the first time. It took me over an hour and a half to get the mast ready to raise and ready the boat to back it in at the launch ramp. Cindy was in the boat to back it out off the trailer and the boat turned starboard as she backed out and the port long arm on the back of the trailer lost its plastic cap and made a long scratch on the port hull; not too bad but I now have a good argument for getting the white hull over the blue hull (ours is blue). Once in the water we motored under the 2nd street bridge in Long Beach and I proceeded to raise the mast…three times. I would get it up and find that the Halyard was twisted or caught up on a shackle. Finally did get the mast raised. Next I turned toward the furled Genoa. It wouldn’t reach the pin location at the bow and found that the screw pin shackles MUST be in a particular position to get the Genoa to reach. Ok, got the furl barrel attached (I was so worried I would drop the pin). Next was the boom. We purchased the main roller furler too. It wasn’t too hard to put on and WA-LA, just like that I was done; it only took another two hours to complete. So to recap to this point we have just about four hours invested in getting the boat ready to raise the sails. I was exhausted and this whole time Cindy was motoring around slowly because we didn’t know if we could tie up at a dock to do these tasks. She had never driven a boat before and we came precariously close to other boats: docked and not docked. She was frazzled and I was exhausted.
Time to put up the sails: I unfurled the Genoa first so we could start moving through the water without the motor. Ok I now know to raise the main first. Fortunately I had hooked the main to the halyard so all I had to do is raise it. I don’t think I actually got the main fully raised, not for the lack of trying (my hands still hurt). Oh, I tried to furl the Genoa before raising the main but could only get it to furl a little; it appears the furl barrel was put on wrong, meaning I need to turn it 180 degrees before pinning it: another lesson learned. I got the main up as far as I could and we were sailing…sort of. There was a time that we caught good wind, almost too good. We healed over port and I was sitting starboard and saw through the cabin the water line coming across the port windows: I was terrified, Cindy was smiling but I don’t think she understood how far over we were. So I loosened the jib sheets and let the Genoa go. OK, I now know that this wasn’t the best maneuver as the wind caught the main and forced the bow port and we spun a very tight 180 which widened the eyes of the kayakers we had just past.
For the most part sailing was anything but fun. The Genoa flapped persistently at us regardless which jib sheet we pulled on. I finally crawled up to the Genoa furl barrel and manually feed the line through a part of the barrel that allowed me to furl the Genoa. Cindy tied it off. I next furled the main and Cindy tied it off. We were both done; sailing took the wind out of us. We talked about going home but I needed to relax a bit before tackling the trailer. We motored out to open water and opened up the motor. We cut through the wave and were sprayed down by the tails coming off the bow. We found ourselves smiling, laughing, and taking pictures of ourselves at arm’s length.
Overall: we had a good day. We learned lots of useful things. For one, don’t raise the sails until we are in open water away from everyone. Another thing we learned is we need to take sailing lessons from someone. The motor can get you out of some unsavory situations is another take away from our experience (leaving the motor down may have been a mistake that I’m glad we made).
To lower the mast and get the boat ready for the trailer we pulled up to a dock by the bridge and tied off. At this point I would rather have to apologize to someone for docking where I shouldn’t instead of balancing while Cindy motored around. We were very tempted to see if we would fit under the bridge with the mast up. In hind sight I think we made a good decision. We both worked on removing the boom and lowering the mast. I tried to take the mast pin out before lowering the mast; the lord reached down and slapped me and said “what are you doing fool!” We got the mast down, and were now ready to trailer the boat. Cindy opted for getting the Jeep and trailer so I waited for her phone call to tell me she was ready for me. The call came and I pulled around. I then pulled around again, and again; the third time was a charm, I lined up and pulled on to the trailer. Another hour or so and we were ready to drive home.
We are exhausted, rattled, and sore. I hope our second trip goes better.
Aloha,
Ron and Cindy
First day out; it was a rather cold, windy day.
Cindy and I put our new Mac in the water on Sunday (4/17) for the first time. It took me over an hour and a half to get the mast ready to raise and ready the boat to back it in at the launch ramp. Cindy was in the boat to back it out off the trailer and the boat turned starboard as she backed out and the port long arm on the back of the trailer lost its plastic cap and made a long scratch on the port hull; not too bad but I now have a good argument for getting the white hull over the blue hull (ours is blue). Once in the water we motored under the 2nd street bridge in Long Beach and I proceeded to raise the mast…three times. I would get it up and find that the Halyard was twisted or caught up on a shackle. Finally did get the mast raised. Next I turned toward the furled Genoa. It wouldn’t reach the pin location at the bow and found that the screw pin shackles MUST be in a particular position to get the Genoa to reach. Ok, got the furl barrel attached (I was so worried I would drop the pin). Next was the boom. We purchased the main roller furler too. It wasn’t too hard to put on and WA-LA, just like that I was done; it only took another two hours to complete. So to recap to this point we have just about four hours invested in getting the boat ready to raise the sails. I was exhausted and this whole time Cindy was motoring around slowly because we didn’t know if we could tie up at a dock to do these tasks. She had never driven a boat before and we came precariously close to other boats: docked and not docked. She was frazzled and I was exhausted.
Time to put up the sails: I unfurled the Genoa first so we could start moving through the water without the motor. Ok I now know to raise the main first. Fortunately I had hooked the main to the halyard so all I had to do is raise it. I don’t think I actually got the main fully raised, not for the lack of trying (my hands still hurt). Oh, I tried to furl the Genoa before raising the main but could only get it to furl a little; it appears the furl barrel was put on wrong, meaning I need to turn it 180 degrees before pinning it: another lesson learned. I got the main up as far as I could and we were sailing…sort of. There was a time that we caught good wind, almost too good. We healed over port and I was sitting starboard and saw through the cabin the water line coming across the port windows: I was terrified, Cindy was smiling but I don’t think she understood how far over we were. So I loosened the jib sheets and let the Genoa go. OK, I now know that this wasn’t the best maneuver as the wind caught the main and forced the bow port and we spun a very tight 180 which widened the eyes of the kayakers we had just past.
For the most part sailing was anything but fun. The Genoa flapped persistently at us regardless which jib sheet we pulled on. I finally crawled up to the Genoa furl barrel and manually feed the line through a part of the barrel that allowed me to furl the Genoa. Cindy tied it off. I next furled the main and Cindy tied it off. We were both done; sailing took the wind out of us. We talked about going home but I needed to relax a bit before tackling the trailer. We motored out to open water and opened up the motor. We cut through the wave and were sprayed down by the tails coming off the bow. We found ourselves smiling, laughing, and taking pictures of ourselves at arm’s length.
Overall: we had a good day. We learned lots of useful things. For one, don’t raise the sails until we are in open water away from everyone. Another thing we learned is we need to take sailing lessons from someone. The motor can get you out of some unsavory situations is another take away from our experience (leaving the motor down may have been a mistake that I’m glad we made).
To lower the mast and get the boat ready for the trailer we pulled up to a dock by the bridge and tied off. At this point I would rather have to apologize to someone for docking where I shouldn’t instead of balancing while Cindy motored around. We were very tempted to see if we would fit under the bridge with the mast up. In hind sight I think we made a good decision. We both worked on removing the boom and lowering the mast. I tried to take the mast pin out before lowering the mast; the lord reached down and slapped me and said “what are you doing fool!” We got the mast down, and were now ready to trailer the boat. Cindy opted for getting the Jeep and trailer so I waited for her phone call to tell me she was ready for me. The call came and I pulled around. I then pulled around again, and again; the third time was a charm, I lined up and pulled on to the trailer. Another hour or so and we were ready to drive home.
We are exhausted, rattled, and sore. I hope our second trip goes better.
Aloha,
Ron and Cindy
. I read as much as I could about sailing and took a beginning ASA course on the same lake in a 24ft Catalina (provided 12 hours on the boat). My wife did not read or take any sailing lessons. 
