~Success on so many levels~

                                                               Cindy's Perspective

I've not really spent much time blogging.  Sam is much more experienced than me but I had to supervise a girls basketball game tonight at school and if your own daughter isn't playing, the games can seem to drag on.  I thought I'd take time to give my version of why our first attempt at stepping the mast and raising the sails was a success.

Let me preface my reasoning by comparing that I anticipate our first attempts at sailing could be like the couples participating in "The Amazing Race".
Some couples fight and blame each other when it gets a little dicey while others encourage and support.  Based on the dynamics of our relationship, I was already certain that when the excitement mounted in our attempts, there would be support and encouragement.  Last night confirmed my suspicions.  Although nothing catastrophic happened, there were some moments that tested Sam's patience.  He passed! My first instructions were to clip something to something attached to the bow of the boat. (I don't know all the nomenclature of sailing yet and I apologize for that.)  I was wearing gloves and it took what seemed like forever.  I'm sure Sam was thinking,"what the heck is taking so d@#* long?"  he never uttered a sound let alone asked me why I wasn't able to carry out the simplest of tasks in a reasonable amount time.  FIRST POINT  SCORED.  After that was done, I had to go to the stern and help do something to the boom.  Now given that my center of gravity is low to the ground because I have short, stubby, tree trunk type legs and some limited high school gymnastics balance beam experience, one would think my balance would be solid as I traveled down the skinny sides of the boat.  Not so much.  I looked like a college coed her first weekend on campus.  Staggering like a drunken sailor, I inched my way to the cockpit and landed with a thud.  The trailer had already bounced off the hitch once and when I landed, it would have been another opportunity for Sam to criticize my less than perfect form.  Again, not a word was uttered.  POINT TWO.  After we raised the sails and tied them off he lead me to a seat and opened the hatch and produced our camping wine glasses and a bottle of yummy wine that I renamed Cindy Knoll instead of Windy Knoll.  POINT THREE.  He truly is the most thoughtful man I have ever met.  He took our pics and the romantic moment was over because we were burning daylight.  With all of the stuff out of the cabin except the tiller and rudder, we had a chance to really examine sleeping space.  We are certain we have enough room to bunk overnight.  Sam is about 6' 2" and with some curling of long legs (his, not mine) it will be very cozy and doable.  To be honest, I get so excited with anticipation of how cool it will all be that I feel like a teenager anticipating getting their drivers license.  I knew that purchasing this boat and then having to wait all winter and some of the spring before we can actually get on the water was going to be torture.  And once again I'm right.  It is.  And last night really whet my appetite. The ONLY good thing is that this body has some time to prepare for a swimsuit.  But that's a whole other blog entry....
Taking everything down and folding it all up wasn't bad at all.  I had visions before we tried it, that the sailing hours would slip through our fingers rigging everything and half the day would be over before we even had the chance to get to the middle of the lake where speedboats would cuss us for being in their way.  Turns out, we will have plenty of  time and opportunities to make people mad.
Our first "at mast" was fun.  And I think I can speak for both of us that just like our first date, it left us wanting more.  ;-)

We went sailing!!!

 Ok, technically it was just yard sailing but we had fun and learned a lot. It was our first attempt at stepping the mast and rigging the sails so we were both a little curious how it would go. I had the her hooked to Juicy the Jeep and the mast ready to step when Cindy got home from work. After a quick change of clothes Cindy scampered up the ladder into the cockpit and we got to work. Cindy stood on the cockpit seats and lifted the mast up as high off the stern crutch as she could then I pulled, really hard, and stood the mast up to the vertical position. It was actually quite a bit heavier to lift from her hands up to about the 45 degree point than I thought it would be. I am looking into someway that we can increase how high Cindy is able to lift the boom so I do not have as far to raise it up. It seems to be much easier to be under the mast pushing up that it is to be in front of it trying to pull it up. Once we got it vertical Cindy moved to the bow and secured the front stay to the bow eye. I put the bow pin in the mast base and she was stepped. Then it was onto the sails. I had only seen it done twice but it turned out to really be a lot easier than I had it made out to be in my mind. The jib snapped on easy and Cindy raised it up. We let the sheets lay loose on the deck just incase a breeze did blow up from somewhere. Next came the main and once I found the clew and slid it in the top slot on the boom all went well. Our main sail has sail slugs on it that run up a track slot in the stern of the mast. Cindy pulled the halyard while I fed the slugs in the slots. We had it up in no time. For some reason I thought I forgot something so we dropped the main back down. It was then that I realized what I forgot. Dave had told me something went in the slot the slugs go in once you get the main raised. There is a plug that goes in that slot that keeps the slugs from dropping out when you lower the main sail. Once the sail started coming down and the slugs were falling out I suddenly remembered. We just ran it back up reinserting slugs as it went up. We did not have much time before it got dark so we did not mess with trying to find the plug for the slot.
 Once we had the sails up it was time to share our first glass of wine at sunset on our Memory Maker. I had hid a bottle of Windy Knoll Red and our two collapsible wine glasses in the port side storage locker before Cindy had got home. We made a quick toast, took a quick pic

 



 as we enjoyed the sun setting through the trees,

then gulped our wine down so we could get busy taking everything back down and get her put back in her parking spot before it got totally dark. Gotta love it getting dark at 5:45 in the evening. Take down went well with no real snags. Not sure we folded the sails right but is there really a right way? I am sure there is and I am the first to say that I do not know what it is. We tried to fold them so that the part that came out of the bag first would be the first part we needed to work with. I guess the next time we go through our mast stepping drill we find out if we were close to being right. Funny thing about gravity, the mast went down a lot easier than it went up. It did not seem to take very long and we had the mast down and all lines secured to it. We backed her back in her parking spot just as the last few rays of daylight faded to darkness.
 All totaled we stepped the mast, rigged the sails, had a toast, took some pics, gulped our wine, and then put everything away in 55 mins. We did not think that was bad for a couple of total newbies. Surely the few minor delays we had figuring things out the first time should get better the next couple of times we do it and I don't see why we could not have the boat on the water in 15 mins or close to it. Granted we did no set the rudder on the pins or have to mess with the motor but both of those items should go pretty quickly. We still think being able to store her with the mast up on the trailer will still be the way to go. Then all we will have to do is hook onto the trailer, rig the sails, load the booze and food, put the motor on the mount and rudder on the pins, then launch her off the trailer.
 Juicy had no problem moving her back and forth out of her parking spot so the idea that we an use her to launch and retrieve her out of the water seems feasible. We did have one little surprise get us and it was not the boat's doing. Both our utility and kayak trailers use 1 7/8" ball couplers. The boat trailer is a two inch coupler.  In an attempt to save time, you can probably see what is about to happen before I even write it, I just used the hitch with the 1 7/8" ball to move the trailer. I have done this several times in the past with no issues, but now that I think about it, I never did it where there would be a negative amount of weight on the hitch, like there was when we were in the cockpit of the boat. So as we stood in the cockpit of the boat admiring the fact that we got the mast stepped and the sails up all of a sudden the bow shot up in the air and the stern of the trailer hit the ground. Crap, the hitch slipped over the ball! Remain calm, not a problem. I had Cindy to move aft as far as possible to hold the stern down then I hopped out and went to the hitch and then lowered it back down onto the ball. Just to make sure we did not have a repeat performance I put the wood block under the rear of the trailer before I got back in. Yes, a second hitch with a 2" ball is now on the list of items we need to get for our Memory Maker!

She made it home!

 Well the day had finally come and we were on our way to pick up our Memory Maker. I picked up our company truck and stopped back by the house to pick up my lil lady before we headed off to Terre Haute to bring her home. It was a dreary, cool, mid November morning in Indiana. It was also the first day of deer gun season so we were on high alert for deer jumping out in front of us as they ran for their lives. We had a good ride over to Terre Haute and arrived at Dave's house to see our girl sitting in his driveway. Dave had gotten her ready to roll for us and gave us some last minute advice about how to handle the "parade" of cars that usually back up behind a boat being towed down the road. We practiced the wave he said his wife uses with cars as they race past them when they finally get a chance to pass LOL!
 We hooked and headed out on our journey. We stopped a couple of miles down the road to check how she was riding and all looked good. I was concerned about the length of the trailer light pigtail as it was just barely long enough to reach the plug on the bumper. I would really like to meat the genius who came up with the idea of putting the plug 18" to the left of the hitch. They must have flunked geometry as almost any six grader could tell you what will happen to the wire in a tight right had turn. WE got lucky and the pigtail was just long enough to reach even in a right hand turn. She pulled well and seemed happy to be on the road again. I took the pic of her in the mirror as we sat at a red light on the south side of Terre Haute. We stopped a few miles down the road to adjust the strap that we had going up and over the sidewalls of the boat as it had worked loose. I did not want to loose our boat like Dave and Susan did their new one on their trip home with it. I moved the strap as far aft as I could get it and tightened it back down. It road there fine the rest of the way home. While not as light as an SJ's we had been looking at the truck did not seem to notice it was back there much at all. I knew she was back there for three reasons. One, I kept checking my mirrors every second looking for issues. Two, in trailer mode the shift points in the truck really get stretched out. And three, the instant readout on the gas mileage was really depressing me. I saw a lot of single digit numbers on the way home. We are defiantly going to be keeping her at the lake as much as possible next summer to avoid single digit gas mileage numbers!
 We made it to Bloomington with no issues so we stopped at Chic Fillet as I really like their waffle fries. The place was crazy busy so we parked in the Target parking lot. It too was crazy busy but I found some open spaces and did my best to get the truck and trailer to not stick out too far in the lane behind or in front of us. I would have preferred to park lengthwise but there were not enough open spots to do that. We had open spots on each side of us when we left her but had people sitting right next to us upon our return. There was no way to pull through now so I got lucky and was able to back her out. That meant we got to parade her past the entrance of Target instead of exiting out the back of the lot. Too bad we did not see somebody in Santa outfit. That would have really screwed with the kids to see Santa go past in a sailboat LOL!
 Our path home took us right across the causeway of Lake Monroe, which will be her new home this coming summer. I pulled in the Cutright boat launching ramp so we could get a pic of us with our girl by the water.

 I think she was saddened that we did not back her up and get her wet but we have lots to do before we are ready for that. We got back on the road so we could finish our journey. Cindy was all excited thinking about all the fun we are going to have with her. I have never seen someone who can come up with so many different ways to have fun. Cindy just keeps coming up with new scenarios of won't this be fun and won't that be fun. I have to agree they all sound great but I keep trying to remind that we have to learn how to sail first!
 Before long we were pulling into our driveway and heading up the hill to her new winter hangout. We plan on keeping her on the west side of our garage on graveled area that I normally store our utility trailer and kayak trailer. We live on top of a ridge, so level ground is a prized commodity. Being that owning a sailboat was not on my radar when I leveled the ground for the garage I did not think about leveling the parking area on the side of it. Needless to say when I backed her into her parking spot she listed pretty good to port. I originally thought I would just jack her up and level the trailer but after seeing how far out of level it was I gave up and will just level an area for her. But while I had the left trailer tire up in the air I spun the wheel to hear how the bearings sounded. Oh no, it sounded like a hand full of gravel had been thrown into the bearings! I grabbed the tire at the top and bottom and rocked the wheel. There was close to an inch of movement! Boy did we just get sooooo lucky! I would say we would have major wheel issues in another few miles. Cindy still has a lot to learn and does not fully understand my concern about wheel bearings. I think once she sees them apart and can better understand what little holds it all together she will have a better appreciation for them and my concern about them. Nothing sucks more than loosing a trailer wheel because of bearing failure. Sure you might have a jack with you and can change a tire on the road but who carries a spare set of bearing and races??? All of a sudden a quick pull home turns into the day from hell trying to find bearings and tools to put it all back together. Ask me how I know...
 But we got lucky and made it home safely. We played around inside her and came up with different ideas on how and what we want to do to her this winter. Can someone tell me why the wiring on most small sailboats looks like a squirrel on crack just built a nest??? Cindy was a little less than comfortable moving around in her too much due to her listing to port so far. We went topside and  tried to see if there was enough room for both of us to lay back on top of the bow so we can watch the sunsets together. I could not get Cindy to slide over far enough to port to find out as she was afraid we were going to tip her over. Needless to say I was glad the bow pulpit was there to keep me from falling off the starboard side. Nothing like one cheeking it LOL.
 Breanna, my daughter, got to  check her out yesterday. I do not think she had ever been on sailboat before. Her first concern was how to steer it since the rudder and tiller are tucked away in the cabin. She went down below and just kept saying how you better like whoever you are with really well as it so small. Granted it is not huge but once everything is out of the cabin and in it's place we think there will be plenty of room for overnighting. Bre did get a kick out of the toilet paper holder built into the port side of the interior wall. I though it was a nice touch myself. But then she commented that the porta pottie seemed a bit sketchy LOL.
 We had strong storms pass through yesterday but we lucked out and did not get the worst of it. I was concerned that a strong gust of wind might weathervane her around which would have lined her up to go down the hill side. Gravity would have taken over and we would have had a good story to share about how our new sailboat wound up stuck between two trees in the woods. Sometimes having a wheeled tongue jack is not always a good thing. But my fears never came to life and she rode out the storms like a trooper.
 We are hoping to get some practice stepping the mast this week before we remove the mast for the winter and cover her up. I have this fear of a tree limb falling down on her and ruining the mast. I can repair fiberglass but if you ruin the mast you are basically screwed. I would feel better with it tucked away in the garage. Dave's estimate of how long it should take us to step the mast and be on the water had dropped to ten minutes from fifteen when we picked her up. I will be happy if we can get it up and rigged in less than an hour the first few times. Needless to say it should be a hoot. Stay tuned for details on how it all goes!!! Only a 134 days to go till the official start of the sailing season!!!!



Still not home yet

 Well our first full week as sailboat owners was a little depressing since we did not actually have our boat at home. We are hopeful that we be able to retrieve her and bring her home soon. Maybe this weekend if all works out well. The fact that we did not have our Memory Maker home did not detour us from lots of conversation about future plans and what we want to do and get for our new camper on the water. Cindy is busy making plans for the cushions we will need to make. We differ in our opinions on how best to make the cushions for the main sleeping area over the table. I sure once we get her home and get to play around inside her a bit we will soon figure out which is the best direction to go on that issue. I have been busy looking for a grill, stereo, and other accessories we think are "must haves". Still searching for a outboard motor as well. Have a few on Craigslist that I think would work fine but of course they are located some distance away. The ones that are close enough to go get are all more money. Go figure. Isn't that how it always go. We have plenty of time before sailing season gets here so I am not too worried that we get it all worked out.
 We are still unsure just where exactly on Monroe we will be keeping her this coming summer. I think we are leaning more towards the fenced in storage at the Lake Monroe Sailing Association. The power that flushing toilets has over Cindy is quite comical. Hot showers and not having the fear of our boat sinking in the night while tied to a buoy I think are the real plusses to dry storage over the buoy.
 It turned out that we were at Lake Monroe both days this weekend. Friends of ours from Fort Wayne met some friends of theirs there Saturday to kayak and camp. We went over Saturday night to share their campfire with them and catch up. It was beautiful night with clear skies and a annoying wind that would not choose one direction nor lay down for the night till after we left. I got to see the two wooden strip kayaks that Jay had built for himself and his wife Joyce. There is just something beautiful about a stripper. Stripper in this sense referring to a cedar strip kayak LOL. I have long wanted to build one and still do. Even more so after seeing Jay's boats out in the light. I was really hoping to build us a tandem strip kayak this winter but I could tell that Cindy was really wanting a real boat more than a new tandem kayak. I was fine with that knowing we would probably get more use out of the sailboat than the kayak. That does not change my desire level to build one though. There is always next winter and realistically I will have more than enough projects to keep me busy  around the house this winter.
 Yesterday we met Jerry and Amy at Yellowwood State park and paddled around the lake there in the afternoon. It turned out to be a beautiful fall afternoon with the fall colors probably at peak. It is not the most colorful of falls that I can remember but none the less it is still a nice change of pace to see all the different colors mother nature has on her palette. The lake was calm and there were a few other kayakers canoeist out. The shore line was busy with people walking the trails and taking pics of us out on the water.



 

 

 Here is one of us taken by Jerry. Hard to see but I was fishing with my pocket fisherman while "trolling motor" Cindy was leading the way. Jerry and I each caught a fish so all was good. My fish did me a favor and got off the hook by itself just as I reached for it so I did not have to smell like fish. We took sandwiches and warm red wine with cinnamon schnapps and had a lil picnic on the water as we enjoyed a very relaxing paddle. It was not long before the descending sun brought us longer shadows and cooler temps. We headed back to the ramp and loaded up, destined for our favorite restaurant at Monroe, the Scenic View. We opted not to take the short cut that Jerry and Amy discovered on their way to Yellowwood fearing the restaurant might close before we got there LOL.   

 In warmer temps we really enjoy their outside dining but the girls seemed a bit reluctant to dine under the stars last night so we took the last four open seats that they had which were at the bar. We are always treated to good eats and drinks every time we go there and last night was more of the same. It was dark when we finished and thinks to daylight savings time that started earlier that morning 6:15 felt like 8 o'clock. As we left I tried my best to give the gang a demonstration of the high 85 on the Little Ceaser's commercial. Like I told them, it is pretty much impossible to jump up and get your feet out that far then back down before your rear impacts the ground. I was right, as I landed firmly on my rear on my second attempt. It was a good laugh none the less and I at least get points for being the only one brave/stupid enough to try it.

 We crossed over the causeway at Lake Monroe on our way home just as the last few lumens of light from the setting sun were being extinguished. We looked as far as we could out over the lake but no sails were to be seen. It was not long before Cindy had her head on my shoulder and was fast asleep. There is something about riding in a car that just puts her to sleep. A good copilot she is not LOL.  As I drove I wondered to myself how well she will sleep on the sailboat as we sail. I can see her all stretched out on the cockpit seat asleep in the sun as I sail us off to no where. Good times await and I can't wait!