First Sail of the Year

[Dave R1]

Yesterday we got out for our first sail of the year. It was a bit windier than I would have liked for the first sail but we had a pretty good time.

I was testing out new sails, a new gaff, new standing rigging, a new position for the jib and a change to the mainsail running rigging. All of that stuff wa fine except I need to mount the jib sheet blocks on the deck. The blocks were hooked on the forward shrouds just above the turnbuckles like last year. Last year they were hooked through the quick links. The quick links are gone this year and I didn't anticipate the blocks riding up the shrouds. Easy enough to fix.

Also need to adjust the mains'l on the gaff for a bit better shape. Also an easy fix if the wind would quit for awhile. Might have to try doing it at midnight when the wind seems to be least.

The biggest excitement was a failure in the steering system. I wasn't expecting a problem there. I've checked it several times over the past few years and there's never been anything to adjust or fix since I built my patented BPSM. I didn't check it this year because I was more concerned about the things I'd changed. Just shows to go ya. :roll:

Fortunately I had the trolling motor so we were able to drop the canvas and fire up the motor to get back to the dock. If the steering hadn't caused us a problem we'd probably still be beating our way back up the lake.

Thanks to Bill Paxton for joining us on our first sail. I was glad to have him along to help sail the boat.

The steering is fixed now and it's only a matter of waiting for a high to settle in over us so we have some calm winds. Hopefully that happens before the messabout next weekend.

[kydocfrog]

Sounds good!

DocA