With the known leaks repaired and the trailer modifications made it was time to head back to the lake and try it again. We loaded everything we needed for our first real over night trip on the water in hopes everything would work as planned and we could actually spend the night. The weather was perfect as a cold front had gone through the day before and the sky were so blue it looked strange as we don't get to see that shade of blue very often.
We arrived at the lake and put the trailer mod to it's first real test hooked to a vehicle. It worked just like I hoped it would. Cindy was very impressed. We backed down into the water far enough to start the motor. Once the motor was purring like a kitten Cindy backed on back further till the boat floated up off the trailer bunks. I was backing away before we knew it and the bumper of the 4 Runner was still high and dry! I motored over to pick up Cindy but she never came down to the high wall. I grabbed my phone and tried calling her cell phone only to hear it's familiar ring coming from the cabin. Seems she left it behind. After about 10 minutes I would really starting to worry about what might have happened to her so I started preparing the boat to dock by myself. Did I mention it was Father's day weekend? That meant that the lake was CRAZY busy and the water was really rough around the docks due to all the wakes off the motor boats washing in. I was bouncing around all over the place trying to get deck lines ready, hanging out the fenders, all the while trying to keep the boat out of the way of other boaters. I was a busy lil puppy! Just as I made the turn to the dock Cindy came around the high wall. Weee, I dodged one there. I proceeded to pick Cindy and turn the helm over to her. Turns out the parking area was busy with people getting boats out, people using the gin pole to step their mast, and to top it off the ice delivery man had the road to the high wall blocked. Cindy had to back the trailer about 400 feet and she had never backed a trailer before. I had told her several times that backing a trailer really isn't something that can be taught, one just has to do it and figure it out. She must have figured it out as she did fine and we were on our way.
Once we cleared the buoy field I went below to check on the leaks. The stern repair was dry as desert. But we still had water leaking into the keel trunk area, ARGH!!!! Not near as bad as before so I could see better where this water was coming from. There was a crack in the glass beside the threaded boss that the keel lock pin threads into. I also noticed another leak on the port side of the keel trunk around the plexiglass window I installed in place of the metal plate they had there. I hate leaks....
I did not think we would take on enough water to sink so I marked the leaks with a Sharpie and we continued on. Once out in the lake Cindy turned us into the wind and I proceeded forward to raise the jib as today there was a nice breeze and we were going to sail one way or the other. Up went the jib then the main and the boat just started going wherever it wanted to. I kept telling Cindy to pick a reference point across the lake and hold a heading to which she let me know that is what she was trying to do but it just kept turning. So after taking the tiller and seeing first hand what she was talking about I realized that due to the frustration of still having leaks I forgot to lower the keel!!! Back down into the cabin to drop the keel. Wow, what a difference the keel made LOL!!!
We sailed across the lake and then tacked back like we actually knew what were doing! Back and forth we went just enjoying the experience and the difference having the jib up made in how well she sailed.
Dinner was followed up with a dessert of twinkies covered in fresh strawberries topped with whip cream. Yummy!!!! With our tummies full and the sun fading fast it was time to enjoy the one thing we have thought about so many times before, sunsets on the water. This was a sunset never be forgotten
AS we sat and talked about our day and our future the sun continued to slide down the western sky. The wind was light out of the southeast so with the boat pointed into the wind we had perfect seats for the light show put on by the setting sun. It was not long before someone, not me, got chilly and we retired to the warmth of the V birth for a lil cuddle time. It was still fairly early but the week had been full of long days at work and then late nights working on the boat and trailer. I had worked till midnight the night before and then got up at 5am to finish the welding on the tongue before I went to town to get last minute items I needed to finish so I was tired. We were happy to find out that even with the companionway boards in and the top down we still got a nice refreshing breeze through the front hatch. The gentle rocking of the boat felt so soothing as we snuggled into our lil love nest in the V birth of the Memory Maker.
I guess it was about 11pm or s when I awoke to an incredible vision out the front hatch. The wind still had us pointed east/southeast and it was a full moon night. The sky was still clear so we had a perfect view of the moon rising up over the hills just beyond us and it was beyond words beautiful! Believe me, the pic I took does not do it justice!
Morning seemed to come way too soon. Climbing up out of the cabin to survey the surroundings I was pleased to see that the anchor had held and we were still in the same position we were when we retired the night before. Cindy came crawling out shortly after me and we watched the bass boats streak across the water with rooster tails in tow as there must have been a fishing tourney starting that morning at 6:30 am. After we got both our eyes opened all the way we raised anchor and started across the lake as I had to get back to the house to so I could deliver a Father's day surprise for good friends of ours. Cindy dropped me off back at the boat dock and I brought the trailer over to meet her at the ramp. With this just being only our second actual retrieval I was still trying to figure out how far to back the trailer into the water. In hindsight I goofed and backed way too far back to retrieve the boat. Cindy was guiding the boat to the trailer and doing a great job. I guess a did a lil too good of a job instilling the fear of bringing the boat out of the water with the rudder still down because with about 10-15 feet left to go before reaching the trailer the boat started to drift. I looked up into the boat but I could not see Cindy. I was telling her to "LOOK AT ME!" but it was too late. I grabbed the front pulpit and muscled it back into line with the trailer. Talk about a ab workout! Seems Cindy thought she had it made and was busy raising the rudder blade I winched the trailer onboard then pulled the boat with Cindy in it out of the water. I stopped up on the flat ground to slide the tongue back and just as soon as I got out and looked back a the boat I knew we did something wrong as the boat was listing about 20 degrees to port!!! We somehow managed to miss the slot in the bunk boards for the keel. So back into the water they went and I pulled up so the trailer would not be so deep. That worked much better as I was able to feel the keel being guided into the bunk board slot and all was much better the second time around. I got a reference mark off the spare tire on the trailer as to how far in the water the trailer needs to be to retrieve it so we would not have another issue like that one. The tongue slid back into the tow position just as easily as it slide out and we were headed back to park our boat for a few hours.
Sail #3 June 15th, 2014
After a quick trip home to deliver the father's day surprise we were headed back to the lake for sail number 3. This was to be our first time to launch the boat with Juicy the Jeep so we were curious how well it would work. The wind was barely blowing when we left the lake that morning so I was worried about having enough wind to sail. So stupid me breaks out the "Pray for Wind" shirt Cindy had gotten me for Xmas. Let's just say it works!!! We arrived back at the lake and hooked up to the trailer and headed to the ramp. Extended the tongue and launched the boat with no real issues. I headed back to the dock to pick up Cindy who had no issues getting to the high wall this time. I could tell the wind was blowing a bit but the real wind was blocked a by the trees along the shore line. Once the Capt was aboard and at the helm I made sure I dropped the keel first thing. Just clear of the buoy field up with the sails and off went the motor. Lets just say we SAILED that Father's day!!! The boat was immediately healed over to port much further than we had ever had it to this point in our two previous sails. I think we were both having flashbacks to our one failed sailing lesson on Bear Lake the previous summer! I worked the sheets adjusting the sails while Cindy struggled to hold heading. Cindy has been an awesome trooper all along but I could tell she was a bit concerned at this point. Reaching the other side of the lake in nothing flat it was time to tack. Some genius gets the idea that we should try a gybe instead of a tack. So full rudder to starboard and away we went!!!! Holy crap that was a fast turn!! We survived but not without provoking an even more concerned look on Cindy's face. Running with the wind for the first time felt odd with the way the bow of the boat was being forced down due to the force of the wind on the sails. We sailed back into Moores creek cove to explore that area. Cindy went down into the cabin to check the leaks as this time we brought a sponge to try and get some of the water our of the keel trunk area. I was at the helm trying to keep it under control. The gusty conditions made things exciting, to say the least. It was about then that I screwed up and took my eyes off the front of the boat and looked down into the cabin to see how Cindy was doing. I know I only looked away for a few seconds but a gust caught me off guard and when I looked up the nose was coming around into the wind. Well it was a learning experience as I discovered in that much wind there is not enough rudder to bring it back in line if it gets away from you. we went for one heck of a ride as the boat continued to heal over as she turned into the wind and then stood up right and bobbed in the water almost as if saying to me "good job you idiot!" Cindy was hanging on for dear life in the cabin as we rounded up and had an even greater look of concern on her pretty lil face LOL!!!! We recovered and feel back off with the wind and proceeded on making sure to pay closer attention from then on.
With Cindy back at the helm we tacked back to the southwest and the gusts really started to pick up. I noticed we tacked at the same time as a larger sailboat off our port side. We took off and left him like he was dragging his anchor. I was thinking our lil 20 footer was quite the thoroughbred! When we tacked back to the north and passed him it was then I noticed he had reefed his sail and had his jib sail furled in quite a bit. Seeing that made me wonder just how much wind we had as it was only forecast to be up to 10 mph. A quick call to the local airport's automated weather station revealed the truth, it was not 10mph but 15 knots, with gust to 22 knots!!!! Yikes!!! What we doing out there in wind like that on our 3rd real sail???? Oh well, we are already out here, time to just hang on a learn quick!
After nearly rounding up again Cindy suggested we anchor for a bit and let the wind die down some. Seemed logical to me so off to the south shore again and anchored down. The wind really had us bobbing around pretty good but our lil Danforth style anchor held us rock hard. After a rest and a speaker phone call to see how the father's day surprise went we headed back in wanting to call it an early night so we could get some rest. It was them that I discovered that the reason the anchor held so well is that the lake bottom in that area was a grey mucky stinky clay that took me a good five minutes of washing to get it all off the anchor.
Once back at the dock we did our once usual procedure of dropping me off to bring the trailer around to retrieve Cindy and the Memory Maker. This time all went well, Cindy never lost focus on me that last 10 feet and I did not back too far down into the water this time. Juicy the Jeep crawled right up the ramp with the trailer in tow, and the tongue slid right back into the tow position. We put our lil boat to bed next to her new neighbor, a Precision 18.
It was with a true sadness that we had to say good bye to her. As happy as we were that we were not taking her back home we were still sad to leave her behind. We had so much fun with her the past few days and we knew it was going to be a whole week before we could get her out again. We had learned a incredible amount in the two days of sailing. Our first over nighter on the water was so very enjoyable and we can't wait for overnight number two, number three, and number 300! I will be the first to admit that sailing is a lot of work and defiantly not for everyone but at the same time is so much fun, extremely gratifying, and at times really exciting when it all works like it should!
As we drove away we both told our Memory maker good by and made her the promise that we would be back soon to make more memories with her!
No comments:
Post a Comment