WE DID IT!!!!! WE actually SAILED!!!! I think we were beginning to wonder if we would ever actually get the boat off the trailer and raise a sail but we did, and it was awesome! Granted, it was not without a few minor difficulties but we persevered and over came them, and we SAILED!!!!
We met at the lodge around 11:30 and started getting everything ready for our big trip to Lake Monroe. After checking everything and discovering our spare tire needs a new valve stem as it was cracked and would not hold air we headed off to figure out what else we forgot to bring. It was about a mile from home that I started adding items to that list LOL! The ride over went well and after stopping to get cookies and a grill lighter, one of the items I thought I forgot but later learned I had not, we arrived at the Lake Monroe Sailing Association. We met up with Rita who showed us around the site and where we could park the Memory Maker when we left. I immediately liked Rita as she carried a Gerber Multiplier on her belt. I can't live without mine. Once our tour was over we headed over to public launch ramp to prepare the Memory Maker for our maiden sail. With the sound of thunder to the south we raised the mast and attached our Nissan 3.5 hp four stroke motor and made sure everything, well almost everything, was tight and sea worthy. One final check of the radar and we thought we were good to go for launch.
If you remember from our last post our first attempt at launching did not go as planned due to the ramp being shallow and not drafting enough water to float the Memory Maker up over the bunk boards. Surely today will be different. Well, not so much. I gave Cindy a crash course in how to back a boat trailer and after she backed the boat back down into the water to the point that it should have been floating it wasn't. Instead she just sat firmly on her keel in the trailer. At this point I was starting to worry. Actually I was a bit perplexed, the boat only drafts about 18" of water and she was clearly in that much water. Something was amiss but with all that was going on I was having a hard time processing just what the issue was. So I had Cindy back further down into the water. Now the rear bumper of the 4 Runner is submerged and finally the boat is floating. I had to help slide her off the trailer but finally she was floating on her own. My plan was to pull the boat over to the docks on the east side of the ramp but as I pulled her in I felt something drag on the ramp. That did not make any sense but at this point we are in the water so we would just deal with it and move. In order for me to get in the boat I had to walk to the rear of the trailer on submerged bunk boards. Not the easiest task. I finally reached the boat and was able to get her spun around and pointing our into the lake. It is about now that I start thinking about what can go wrong. Let's see, my phone is one leg pocket of my shorts and my pistol is in the other. I was smart enough to put my wallet in a Ziploc so if my leap to the boat goes wrong at least my money will be dry when I by a new phone! Luckily I hit the swim ladder and climbed aboard. Our motor fired right up and I was under way.
The plan was for Cindy to drive the 4 Runner and trailer back to the sailing association and park it by the dock and I would pick her up there off the dock. I slowly motored the short distance to the dock and found my lovely lil lady waiting for me, camera in hand. She smoothly hopped aboard and we were off! Making our way through the buoy field and out into open water the smile on Cindy's face was a mile wide while the look of fear of what is going to go wrong next was being clearly displayed on mine. We motored out of the mine field and headed around the first bend with no real destination. Cindy took the tiller and like she had been driving a sailboat her whole life smoothly guided us along. While Cindy was at the helm motoring us out (still smiling)
I started checking the boat out for leaks. Not being the most lucky person alive I was pretty sure if I was involved with a boat it would have a leak or two. I was right. I looked at the keel pin bolts, the most likely place for a leak, but amazingly they appeared dry. But there was water coming in the battery compartment from somewhere. I chased the leak down to a small hole around a re enforcement that needs some glass work to fix. Then I made way back under the starboard side cockpit seat to inspect the stern of the boat. During my time working on the boat this spring I had noticed it looked like a repair had been made to the bottom of the stern right below the bottom attachment pin for the rudder. More than likely someone had forgotten to raise the rudder blade before the pulled the boat out of the water and damaged the stern. While were taking on water but we were not sinking so we continued on around the bend. The motor was running great and Captain Cindy was smiling happily. As I sat in the cockpit with her with my mind was running wild trying to figure out how we were going to reload the boat back on the trailer if we were dragging on the ramp.
Cindy wanted to drop anchor and float a bit. Great, now I have to figure out how to anchor a boat. Can't this lady just give me a break LOL! I had gotten a new piece of galvanized anchor chain but had not attached the anchor rode to the chain so it was time to tie my first knot. I tried to tie a bowline but the line was so stiff I was not happy with it so I tried again. I through in a half hitch just to make sure then made my way forward to drop anchor. With the anchor in one hand a hundred feet of very stiff 3/8" line in the other I proceeded to drop not only the anchor but the line too! Luckily, they each fell on opposite sides of the one of the front pulpit stanchions so I was able to retrieve the line. That did not go quite as smoothly as I had hoped but I managed to get the anchor set and Cindy thought I was a genius so all was good. Storm clouds were passing just south of the lake and the wind was blowing maybe 10 to 15 mph so we were bobbing around a bit but the anchor seemed to be holding fine. I ventured down below to check on the leak. Yep, still leaking. It was then that I discovered that the clear viewing port I installed over the access hole to the keel cable attach point was about half under water. Wow, our own aquarium on our boat! Kinda cool, kinda unnerving. Now I was glad I used 1/4" plexi glass and sealed it well.
I crawled up into the v birth and popped the front hatch up. Wow, talk about airflow! A nice cool breeze came ripping through the cabin. One nice things about boats at anchor, they usually point into the wind making the front hatch lid like a hood scoop on a pro street dragster! I bunched up a beach towel for a pillow(note, add pillows to the need to get list) and rested for a bit. Captain Cindy came down and snuggled up with me, still blissfully smiling. Oh how I wonder what it would be like to live in her world just for one day. Here I am, laying there trying to process all the problems at hand and she is totally un aware that we even have any problems as she is enjoying being in her happy place. God love her, just let me trade places with her for one day!
Cindy tried to get me take my glasses off and relax for a bit but I did not fall for that trick. As we laid there enjoying the breeze it hit me! In all the repairs that I had made I rebuilt the keel winch. With all that was going on during the launches I never did verify where the lock lever was at on the winch. I just, gasp, assumed it was locked. So I jumped out of the v birth. Ok, crawled out, as there is no jumping in the v birth LOL. I peered into the access window and did not see the clevis. I should have been able to see the clevis on the line hooked to the keel if the keel had been up. Since we were not intending to raise the sails I had not bothered to drop the keel so it should have been up. I got out the winch handle and attached it. I flipped the lever to the up position and what do you know, the keel was down! That answers the question as to why the boat was dragging on the ramp and hopefully why it was so hard to launch! It was like the light bulb finally got turned on over my head. I winched the keel up just to see how much force it took. It really wasn't bad at all, then I lowered it back down. Finally something was starting to make sense and I felt a huge weight of concern lift off my shoulders. At least now I did not think we would be have quit as hard of a time reloading her back onto the trailer. Yes, that was a big sigh of relief you just heard me exhaling!
By now the skies were starting to clear and the wind had laid down a bit. I asked the Captain if we should at least try to raise a sail and give it a go. Cindy was actually a bit apprehensive and asked me if I thought we should as the wind was still blowing. Well, we do kinda need the wind to blow in order to sail. With a lil coaxing Cindy handed me up the main sail. We went about attaching the mainsail and preparing to raise anchor. Our boat came with a this pointy looking Danforth style anchor that resembles some sort of medieval weapon. It is designed to lay on the bottom and dig into the sand or mud as you motor or drift back with the wind. It was way too easy to set so in my mind I was wondering what it was hooked on since it appeared we were in a rocky area. Probably hooked tightly to a large rock or submerged log and we will never get it unhooked. I instructed Cindy on how to start the motor and engage the drive line. The idea was for me to be on the bow raising the anchor while she motored us straight ahead over the anchor hopefully free it as we passed over it. It all sounded too easy when I read how to do it online. I remember thinking that will never work. But what do you know, it WORKED!!!! I brought the anchor onboard and scampered back down into the cockpit with the Captain. The time had come to raise the sail and see if we could actually sail this boat.
I went over the plan with Cindy one more time. I will raise the sail, we will turn off to port and let the sail fill with wind, then tighten the main sheet till the sail stops luffing, then kill the motor. Sounded easy enough. So up went the sail and to port we turned. Then something magical happened. The sail filled with air and the boat started to gently heel to port. I reached back and killed the motor. Instead of stopping dead in the water we kept moving. The only thing breaking the silence was the sound of the water gently burbling from under the boat behind the stern as we sailed along. We were SAILING!!!!!!
We had been under sail for maybe 5 minutes at this point but it only took 5 seconds for us to be hooked! All the problems with the keel and the leaks seemed minor at this point. We were being propelled along by the wind and nothing seemed to matter but keeping the sail full and the bow pointed in the right direction. We were moving, all be it rather slowly as the winds were light and we were just under the main sail, but none the less we were moving. It was at this point, with me admiring Cindy at the helm, that I realized it was all worth it. All the frustration and aggravation, the countless 20 dollar trips to the hardware store for a few stainless nut and bolts and what ever else we needed, the fiberglass pungee sticks that ran up under my fingernails as I ran all new wires in the boat, right there in the cockpit of our very own sailboat moving smoothly along under sail next to the lady the man upstairs put on this earth for me to enjoy life with, I realized it had all been worth it. I had read countless stories about how people like us experienced life changing moments once they finally got to raise their sails for the first time and now I understood what they were talking about. I am not one who "relaxes" well, but I found sailing along with Cindy by my side on a beautiful evening with the sun starting to fall in the western sky to be very relaxing. I think this video shows that
We had not been going along very far before Cindy started wanting to tack again as she thought it was fun. It was all I could do to get her to hold heading just a bit longer so we would be far enough from the south shore to give us enough room to sail back the other direction for a while. I finally gave in and talked her though her first tack at the helm. With a smooth pull of the tiller to starboard around to port came the bow, over the top swung the boom, air filled the sail and off we went back to the southeast. The wind was quickly laying down on us and our speed across the water was showing it. We slowly sailed our way to the southern shore in search of a location to drop anchor again and fix some supper.
Arriving at the south shoreline we turned into the wind and I dropped the anchor again. This time I held onto the anchor rode and things went a bit smoother. It was time to pop the top on the cabin and light the grill! With the table set and the steaks sizzling on the grill
we relaxed for a bit in the sun while dinner cooked. Unfortunately one of the items we forgot to bring was a cork screw for our bottle of wine we had been saving for our first sail. I scrounged up a screw but it wound up not being long enough and I pulled it out of the cork trying to remove the cork from the bottle. So we had to forgo our celebratory toast till the next trip. With the steaks cooked it was time to settle in at our table for our first dinner on the water. We had a good laugh as the water had really calmed down and was like glass, right till we set down to eat. A good sized cabin cruiser had passed off our starboard side and we were bobbing and rolling in his wake. Note to self, anchor further back in a the cove before eating dinner. Supper was very tasty with marinated steaks and a mixed green salad. No five course meal but I would have rather been there in our boat eating steak and salad than at any fancy restaurant in the whole world.
While we wished we could stay and watch the sun set we thought it better to error on the side of caution and head back in before dark not knowing how much of a problem we were going to have loading the boat back on the trailer. So with dishes cleaned and put away it was time to raise anchor and head back in. With our lil motor purring along we raised the main sail in hopes of maybe catching enough wind to sail back in with. As we motor sailed along I went over the plan with the Captain. Cindy was going to drop me off at the sailing association dock then motor over to the boat ramp when I would meet her with the trailer. Fearing we might still have a struggle to get her on the trailer I planned on walking out the bunk boards, again, with the winch line in my hand to hook the how eye so we could winch her up if needed. Cindy was concerned that she could not do it. I did my best to instill the needed confidence in her right before I hopped off the boat. I raced over to the ramp and backed down submerging the bumper in the water again. Climbing up onto the tongue of the trailer I had plenty of time as Cindy was till a 100 yards out slowly and cautiously motoring in. She looked calm, cool, and collected so I knew we had this licked. Just a lil off line as she approached the trailer I reached out and grabbed the bow pulpit and helped straighten her up then pulled her up onto the trailer. I was easily able to pull the boat almost all the way to the bow bumper. Amazing how easily it slides on the trailer with the keel up and locked!!!! I will just call that whole keel issue a lesson learned through experience as those are the ones you never forget. I helped Cindy get the rudder onboard before pulling her out of the water. The rudder is one issue I need to fix. When I painted it I filled the nicks and digs plus the hole towards the bottom rear. Turns out that hole needs to be there as there should be a small line attached there that goes up to the tiller handle. Without that line there is no real way to raise the rudder blade up into the flat position so you can pull the boat out of the water. Added that to the to do list.
It was 8:30 and we were back on dry ground. Our original plan was to leave the boat on the trailer at the sailing association but with the fiberglass repairs that need to be made I thought it would be easier and quicker to do them at home so we had take mast down, remove the motor, and make ready to travel again. We must be getting pretty good at that as we were all down and rolling out in 22 minutes.
Driving home we reflected on our first real sail. Cindy called it a total success. We managed to launch, motor, sail, dine on board, and retrieve the boat with out anyone getting mad, hurt, or cussing at each other. Yes we had a few issues but we worked through them and came up with a plan to fix the few problems we have. Laying in bed at the end of the day we had to watch our videos, several times, reliving the moments again and again. Closing our eyes in hopes of getting some sleep we found it difficult to succumb to slumber as we were both full of anticipation of our next sailing adventure!!!!
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