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Don't forget to lower the centerboard


Randy C.

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Finished building my Core Sound 17 last year and lauched it on Labor Day.  First time for sailing on my own.  The boat performed great.  Had one guy tell me it looked like I'd been sailing for years.  Went for one more sail before the end of the season last fall.

 

Today, I took my almost 9 year old grandson out with me(he also went on the maiden voyage last Labor Day) This was my first time sailing this year, and my third time ever.  I couldn't get any performance out of the boat.  It wouldn't sail very good no matter which direction I went.  It would stall every time I turned.  I kept getting closer to the dam every time I turned.  I was baffled.  I really thought I was going to have to drop the sails and row back to the dock.  Just as I was about to give up I looked down and realized I hadn't dropped the centerboard. 

 

I lowered the centerboard and we took off like somebody started an outboard engine.  I could turn without stalling and sail upwind.  It would do everything it did last fall.  Boy, did I feel like a dope.  I bet I won't make that mistake again.

 

Happy sailing,

Randy

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Randy, My record for centerboard-in-the-wrong-position is 3 times in one day:1) Left board down. Centerboard slightly down as I tried to push boat off trailer, causing board to bang against trailer cross bar. Had to re-hook up the winch to pull the boat up a few feet, pull board up all the way.2) Left board up. Pushed out from dock, kept sailing back down onto it. "Why don't this boat point better?" 3) Conciously left board down. Coming in to beach, figure the bungie cord would stretch enough as I got into shallow water. Nope. Stuck, turned up to wind, slipped backwards a little, stuck again. Ugly.But I keep sailing. Someday I may even look like I know what I'm doing. Someday.

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Had that happen to me a couple of times as well. the most interesting one when we were racing with smaller dinghies and we found ourselves always waiting at the finish line waiting for the other boats to finish, so me and my crew had a few beers in between races (we had a cooler). On the third race we were wondering why the smaller boats were leaving us behind, so we assumed it was the beer, we actually managed to get to the windward mark, and when I was about to raise the board for the down wind leg I noticed that it was already up, so apparently it was the beer! :P 

 

Winds were light to moderate and we actually didn't have any trouble tacking without the board, we were just getting a whole lot of leeway. 

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I went sailing after work one day. It was a beautiful, hot day and I had the small lake to myself! I was excited.

 

The was one big tree so I parked the trailer there i nthe shade to get the boat set up. [You're already seeing the problem.]

 

Pulling forward toward the ramp, i heard nothing until the fitting on the bow was pulled out of the deck by the forestay. By then the mast had a 30 degree bend.

 

I slunk home with my tail between my legs, so glad no one was there to see it.

 

This was just one of the many dopy things in my sailing experience.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the 2011 Everglades Challenge, sailed the first hours with the centerboard up on my old Daysailer II. Heading out across Tampa Bay on a reach it wasn't noticeable. When I turned the corner in the Gulf off of Anna Maria to close hauled, I was frustrated by my inability to go to windward. I fought with the boat until I was 5 miles offshore then tacked back to shore, losing ground towards the first checkpoint all the way. Only when I got nearly to the beach did I realize I'd cleated off CB uphaul line instead of the downhaul, allowing the board to retract. It was as you said, the boat felt like it just took off after 5 or so hours of utter frustration and anguish. 

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Not a sailing story but in a similar vain. Years ago, too many to think about, aboard USCG Cutter Minnetonka  on duty on Ocean Station Victor about halfway between LA and Honolulu, I watched a boat crew lower a lifeboat during a drill.  They unhooked from the divots (it's been so many years I may have forgotten the correct terminology and spelling) and started motoring away from the ship.  About a hundred yards out the boat made a U-Turn, returned to the ship, hooked up, pulled out of the water a ways and after all the water had drained out, put the plug in, lowered away and finished the drill.  So such things can and do happen to the pros. 

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