wkisting Posted February 19, 2011 Report Posted February 19, 2011 Hi all, Had some beautiful 65-degree F weather this morning so we took little Bella out for her first sail (she turned one year old last week!). The hard dodger works great for keeping the sun out of her eyes, which is good because she gets oh-so-cranky if the hot sun is shining on her when she slips into nap mode. She fell asleep aboard, which is quite a success since our brief lifejacket-tests at home suggested she was not going to be happy about wearing her lifejacket for more than a few minutes. In the bathtub, she was shrieking and complaining about the thing, but onboard, she seemed soothed by the brisk breeze and the waves lapping against the hull. Playing peek-a-boo with the sails was a big hit also. We sailed across to a little island about 3/4-mile away from the dock. Only about 5 knots of wind, so we made about 3 knots of speed for a nice, lazy sail. Explored the island, had lunch, let Bella dig in the sand for awhile, then sailed back across to the boat ramp by 2:30, when the weather had warmed to 75 degrees F. Great way to inaugurate a new season of sailing and Bella's first time out. Regarding the hard dodger: As expected, the bungee hold-downs work great. The dodger stays firmly in place even while trailering at 60 mph. Pretty slick. Thought I'd share some pics for those of you stuck in colder climes... Quote
PeterP Posted February 19, 2011 Report Posted February 19, 2011 Wes, wonderful stuff. Don't loose those pictures - looking at them when you 60 will cut your heating cost by 10%. (Speaking from personal experience) PeterP Quote
John Turpin Posted February 20, 2011 Report Posted February 20, 2011 Wonderful photos, Wes. Soak up those memories. Quote
Kyle H. Posted February 20, 2011 Report Posted February 20, 2011 Too much fun! Glad that little Bella enjoyed herself. Thanks for sharing. Makes the 9" of snow more bearable here... Kyle Quote
Hirilonde Posted February 22, 2011 Report Posted February 22, 2011 Bella, we need to talk. You are making sailing way too comfortable and fun for you father. Your job is to whine and cry about everything. Quote
Steve Day Posted February 25, 2011 Report Posted February 25, 2011 Wes, Looking good. It's really nice to get out sailing in the winter. Bet it was nice to sail on Lanier without all the PWC's and boat wakes. Steve Quote
wkisting Posted February 25, 2011 Author Report Posted February 25, 2011 Bet it was nice to sail on Lanier without all the PWC's and boat wakes. Actually, that's Clarks Hill/Thurmond Lake... it's about 10 miles up the road from our driveway, and is the biggest man-made lake east of the Mississippi as far as I know. (75,000 acres) Very nice to have it so close. I think Lanier is much further north--about two lakes up from us. The neat thing about Thurmond Lake is that it is so big that the powerboat traffic is hardly noticeable even in the busiest times of the year. I was stunned when we drove by it on the Fourth of July one time and you could hardly even tell that there were lots of rec boaters out there... it's so expansive and the powerboaters also tend to head up river, politely leaving the dam area open for the nearby sailing club to use. I was hoping to get Bella out again today, but Anna and I have been busy building a multi-tiered garden on a sloped area of our backyard. Nothing too fancy, but it was brutal moving 5 cubic yards of dirt from the driveway to fill in each tier. My back is killing me after about ten thousand shovels of dirt. But maybe we'll luck out and have good winds for sailing tomorrow. Today she had fun tumbling down the mounds of black dirt. I'm loving being a dad. Quote
potomac Posted February 27, 2011 Report Posted February 27, 2011 Wes- The photographs are beautiful. After seeing them, I went to your website and ended up staying up way too late following your build. Thanks so much for the thoughtful, informative account. It was truly inspiring- especially to see that it is something both you and your wife enjoy and share. I look forward to more pictures. Those of us in Brooklyn are jealous. -Aaron Quote
wkisting Posted February 27, 2011 Author Report Posted February 27, 2011 Aaron, thanks for the kind compliments. I had a lot of fun building the boat, but I'm having even more fun sailing her--especially with the little one now. I'm hoping to make a lifelong sailor out of her, so I'm picking and choosing these first sailing outings very carefully to keep her impressions of it positive. So far, brief sailing with plenty of time ashore to explore islands appears to be the recipe for success. She's an adventurous little girl and spends most of the time giggling and sifting sand through her fingers. I look forward to the days when she's talking and saying, "Daddy, let's go sailing!" A few more pics from Bella's first sailing adventure... Quote
Randy C. Posted March 2, 2011 Report Posted March 2, 2011 Looks like a BEAUTIFUL day. I can hardly wait until the ice is off the lakes around here. By the looks of the big smile on your daughters face she is hooked!! FUN stuff!! Quote
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