Saturday, June 18, 2016

Cindy's first solo sail!

Well it finally happened. Cindy kicked me out. No, not out of the house, out of the boat LOL! Last night was Cindy's first time to sail the boat all by herself without me in it. We will call it her first "assisted" solo as I actually started and ended in the boat with her but for quite a while she was the sole occupant of the boat. I guess in a way she stepped down from being the Admiral to lowly Captain status as she tacked back and forth out in front of me while I took pics.
 I had been wanting to get pics of the boat with the new sails as the old sails just looked horrible. So we took Ding Dong, our inflatable dinghy I made, to the lake for her test pull and I thought that would give me a great platform to shoot some pics of the boat while Cindy sailed her.
 Cindy did awesome although she did not understand the "need" to take the pics. It wasn't a need as much as a want. Luckily she humored me and was a good sport about it . So we heaved too so I could hop into Ding Dong and off she went!


She looks totally in control, which she was. I knew she would have no problem handing the boat under sail as 95% of the time we spend on the boat she is on the tiller and mainsheet.


 Even with the new paint last year, the bagged out old sails looked horrible. It is like washing a car but not cleaning the windows, it still looks dirty. We both think she looks much better now plus she sails so much nicer with crisp tight sails.



I nearly got myself ran over taking this series of shots. I am not sure but I think she was aiming for me ;-)



Someone is no longer afraid to heel the boat over.




Cindy buries the rail with the best of them now!

As much fun as it was motoring around in the dinghy I was ready to get back aboard. But trying to catch Cindy under sail just wasn't going to happen. Ding Dong would keep up with her but that was it. She had too much of a head start on me for to catch her unless the wind died. With only 25cc pushing the dinghy it just did not have enough power to go any faster. Never thought I would see the day come I would say that we had a fast boat, but at least that day, the Memory Maker was the fastest. Luckily Cindy heaved too and let me back aboard the boat.
 Ding Dong worked out very well considering what she is. I am going to make a modification to her and move the tow bridle d rings further back and down lower to help get her bow up. As we pulled her along above 5 mph her bow would dig in and she took on some water. I had no prior experience setting up a dinghy so I just winged their location, should have winged them a bit further back. Other than that it worked great. We even anchored and took a dinghy ride where were able to see a deer down getting a drink.
 It has been our goal from the very start of our "sailing journey" to get Cindy to where she can sail the boat own her own. I knew she would have no problem sailing the boat under sail as she now has several seasons of experience under her belt. Now the next big step will be docking solo. That might take a bit more practice ;-)
 We only have 26 days to go till the wedding and our honeymoon cruise on the North Channel! We are both really looking forward to our big day and exploring the islands in the Memory Maker and Ding Dong!

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