First day out

[Miss_Dallie]

MacGregor Owners:

First day out; it was a rather cold, windy day.

Cindy and I put our new Mac in the water on Sunday (4/17) for the first time. It took me over an hour and a half to get the mast ready to raise and ready the boat to back it in at the launch ramp. Cindy was in the boat to back it out off the trailer and the boat turned starboard as she backed out and the port long arm on the back of the trailer lost its plastic cap and made a long scratch on the port hull; not too bad but I now have a good argument for getting the white hull over the blue hull (ours is blue). Once in the water we motored under the 2nd street bridge in Long Beach and I proceeded to raise the mast…three times. I would get it up and find that the Halyard was twisted or caught up on a shackle. Finally did get the mast raised. Next I turned toward the furled Genoa. It wouldn’t reach the pin location at the bow and found that the screw pin shackles MUST be in a particular position to get the Genoa to reach. Ok, got the furl barrel attached (I was so worried I would drop the pin). Next was the boom. We purchased the main roller furler too. It wasn’t too hard to put on and WA-LA, just like that I was done; it only took another two hours to complete. So to recap to this point we have just about four hours invested in getting the boat ready to raise the sails. I was exhausted and this whole time Cindy was motoring around slowly because we didn’t know if we could tie up at a dock to do these tasks. She had never driven a boat before and we came precariously close to other boats: docked and not docked. She was frazzled and I was exhausted.

Time to put up the sails: I unfurled the Genoa first so we could start moving through the water without the motor. Ok I now know to raise the main first. Fortunately I had hooked the main to the halyard so all I had to do is raise it. I don’t think I actually got the main fully raised, not for the lack of trying (my hands still hurt). Oh, I tried to furl the Genoa before raising the main but could only get it to furl a little; it appears the furl barrel was put on wrong, meaning I need to turn it 180 degrees before pinning it: another lesson learned. I got the main up as far as I could and we were sailing…sort of. There was a time that we caught good wind, almost too good. We healed over port and I was sitting starboard and saw through the cabin the water line coming across the port windows: I was terrified, Cindy was smiling but I don’t think she understood how far over we were. So I loosened the jib sheets and let the Genoa go. OK, I now know that this wasn’t the best maneuver as the wind caught the main and forced the bow port and we spun a very tight 180 which widened the eyes of the kayakers we had just past.

For the most part sailing was anything but fun. The Genoa flapped persistently at us regardless which jib sheet we pulled on. I finally crawled up to the Genoa furl barrel and manually feed the line through a part of the barrel that allowed me to furl the Genoa. Cindy tied it off. I next furled the main and Cindy tied it off. We were both done; sailing took the wind out of us. We talked about going home but I needed to relax a bit before tackling the trailer. We motored out to open water and opened up the motor. We cut through the wave and were sprayed down by the tails coming off the bow. We found ourselves smiling, laughing, and taking pictures of ourselves at arm’s length.

Overall: we had a good day. We learned lots of useful things. For one, don’t raise the sails until we are in open water away from everyone. Another thing we learned is we need to take sailing lessons from someone. The motor can get you out of some unsavory situations is another take away from our experience (leaving the motor down may have been a mistake that I’m glad we made).

To lower the mast and get the boat ready for the trailer we pulled up to a dock by the bridge and tied off. At this point I would rather have to apologize to someone for docking where I shouldn’t instead of balancing while Cindy motored around. We were very tempted to see if we would fit under the bridge with the mast up. In hind sight I think we made a good decision. We both worked on removing the boom and lowering the mast. I tried to take the mast pin out before lowering the mast; the lord reached down and slapped me and said “what are you doing fool!” We got the mast down, and were now ready to trailer the boat. Cindy opted for getting the Jeep and trailer so I waited for her phone call to tell me she was ready for me. The call came and I pulled around. I then pulled around again, and again; the third time was a charm, I lined up and pulled on to the trailer. Another hour or so and we were ready to drive home.

We are exhausted, rattled, and sore. I hope our second trip goes better.


Aloha,
Ron and Cindy

[technicalman]

Rest up and do it again next weekend. It'll get you in shape. Congrats on the new boat! read a few books. take that safe boater class. There's lots of useful info in there.

[iredrider1177]

8) that brought back some memorys from our first time out........dont fret, in due time you will have a good understanding of things and be itching to get some time off work!

[John Jessie]

Next time you sail out of Long Beach, launch ove by the Queen Mary. You can raise the mast while on dry land as there are no low bridges. You can also tie up easier when launching and don't have the cross tide puching you sideways like you do at the Los Alamitos ramp.

I live in Long Beach and launch at the Queen all the time. Much easier and more fun. Contact me the next time you go out.

[mastreb]

Sounds like everyone's first trip out on their Mac

Trick #1: Raise the mast on the trailer and put in somewhere without bridges. Queen Mary is perfect in Long Beach. Don't tackle bridges until you're really good at putting the mast up and down quickly. But definitely rig "on the hard", and buy a whole box of clivis pins and ringdings of the same or higher working load. You will drop them.

Trick #2: Learn to motor the boat for a few days. Get to enjoying the boat. Then learn to sail.

Trick #3: Sailing is easy: Put up the main first, then pull out the Genoa. Don't be afraid of heeling, as long as the ballast is in the boat won't capsize. A 15 degree heel is about perfect on these boats for the lowest drag. If you're heeled past 15 degress, Reef the Genoa until it's about flag sized, then reef the main if you still need to. Since you have the roller furler you should just reef both somewhat equally I suppose until your heel is comfortable. Read the sailing instructions in the manual--they're about the best primer I've seen.

Trick #3: Move the boat on and off the trailer using the dock-lines at a ramp with a dock, rather than the motor, until you're well used to it. This can be done with nobody on the boat, and is frankly how we still do it because it's far more controlled.

We've been two months, and I've got putting in and putting out down to a half hour each. How much was the roller furling main? Do you like it?

[Catigale]

Our first sail was on Lake Champlain with full main and genny, alternately rounding up and getting knocked down (not a full knockdown) until the admiral motored us back to a dock full of keelboats in the marina...."too rough to go out"

9 years later, you still laugh about this

[Paulieb]

Sounds a lot like our first day out. Don't give up, it will pay off.

Paulieb

[Miss_Dallie]

How much was the roller furling main? Do you like it?

The roller furling for the main was $2990 As far as liking it...I don't have anything to compare it to. I don't not like it. It was nice to be able to roll up the main. It was pretty quick, just need to make sure there arn't any wrinkles.

Ron

[Miss_Dallie]

All:

I feel reassured that Cindy and I aren't alone, I don't mean this in a mean way but I'm glad to hear others first day out didn't go well.

There's great tips and tricks from you all which we appreciate and will follow. to say the least Cindy and I were discourged.

Next time you sail out of Long Beach, launch ove by the Queen Mary. You can raise the mast while on dry land as there are no low bridges. You can also tie up easier when launching and don't have the cross tide puching you sideways like you do at the Los Alamitos ramp.

I live in Long Beach and launch at the Queen all the time. Much easier and more fun. Contact me the next time you go out.

We will be out there again soon. I'll be sure to mention it to you in advance John Jessie.

Aloha,

Ron and Cindy

[c130king]

Ron,

Having never seen the roller furling main not sure if this applies...

But with normal slab reefing main you will have much better luck getting the luff taught and the headboard all the way to the top of the mast if you ensure the main sheet and the boom vang is loose as you hoist the main. If there is tension pulling the boom down this seems to put tension on the leach and results in increased friction on the slugs.

As to having the furling barrel 180 degrees out after pinning the forestay...been there done that...got the t-shirt...

Sounds like you guys had quite an adventure. And I have pulled up to docks (private...public...who knows...who cares...) when I needed to...always better to beg forgiveness then be denied permission or something like that.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Jim

[dca81]

Gee, this post is reassuring to a novice like me. In my case it was actually the second sail, but first with my wife. I am a beginner sailor and retired a couple of years ago. My wife and I decided to convert a rental property we had in the mountains to personal use. The mountain property is close to a mountain reservoir with many sailboats. So without a lot of thought, or research ,I purchased a 04 . I read as much as I could about sailing and took a beginning ASA course on the same lake in a 24ft Catalina (provided 12 hours on the boat). My wife did not read or take any sailing lessons.
My first sail on the boat was with my son who also had no sailing experience. We went out and had a pleasant sail, but we had gusty winds and had the boat heel to 30 degrees. Was not unexpected based on my readings on this site. My second sail on the boat was with my wife and it was a disaster. Basically went out on the lake and had very little to no winds for about an hour. Suddenly winds picked up and within 10 -15 minutes were gusting to 40-45 mph. As the winds increased I told my wife to roll up the jib, but she could not get the furler line to roll up. I later determine she had not released the starboard jib line, so she simply pulled the jib tight as a drum and it was back winded. The boat started to heel 30-40 degrees, I figure we cannot turn windward because we are close to shore and the jib is still deployed. I am busy dumping wind from the mainsheet and vigorously informing my wife that if we want to live we need to get the jib rolled up or released. My wife decides at this point the best course of action is to grab the safety lines and scream. I'm thinking I got to get the sails down, so I pull the main in to get get my hands on the reef line and start lowering a fully winded mainsail. I was using my hands to pull down the wind filled main while using my knees to control the wheel. Before I can get the main down we round out twice(360 degrees), the second time the boat actually moves laterally (to port side ) in the water before it rounds out. We heeled so much the water was slightly over the gunnels but never came in the cockpit, one rudder and the motor were out of the water. Finally I get some control over the boat and note that the jib line was not released before trying to roll up the jib on the furler.
One good lesson was that when fully ballasted the proved it could stay afloat no matter what you idiots do, although I do not wish to ever duplicate the experience again. Just novice captain in a challenging environment, my ignorance and inexperience. After this experience my wife is hesitant to deploy the jib, and I am inexperienced enough that I have difficulty single handling everything. So we did a lot of sailing last summer using only the main sail...but continue to sail

[Obelix]

Don't give up, even if the first experience was not the greatest

I too think the manual gives you a good starting point, after you got some feel for the boat motoring it.

This makes me even more appreciate my dealer, who spend a full day with us, who had never sailed or owned a boat before, to show us the basics.

Good luck for your next outing

Obelix

[Ixneigh]

I have 25 years of experience on small sailing boats and it still took me four tries to raise and lower the mast, while anchored, let alone moving. Everything that could get caught on something did so. But it's all practice and you learn quick. My advice is to leave the genny furled the next few times. Get used to just the main. The boat will be controllable and sail fine with just that and at least half the board down. This reduces the complication factor greatly and let's you get the hang of sailing. After you have mastered all facets of main sail handeling including the furling mechanism, and can reef or furl it completely without problem, then try with the jib or genny.
Boats like this will usually sail better and be safer with just the main instead of just the jib. Plus visibility is much better since the headsails block part of your veiw up ahead.
Hope you have a better sailing experience next trip out.

Ixneigh.

[hoaglandr]

We've had our boat out twice and just motored around the lake. Last week after motoring around a while I convinced the admiral it was time to try out the sail! I turned into the wind, and started hauling up the main. Unfortunately the sail kept getting caught in the lazy-jacks, so I had to climb up on the deck and play around with it. After finally getting the sail up I started to adjust the traveller only to find that I had somehow managed to get the line all tangled up. While I am sorting that out the wind of course catches the main and the boom comes whistling across the cockpit. My first accidental gype! Shortly after that though, we got things sorted out and the boat actually started moving without the motor! We sailed for about half an hour back towards the marina, topping out at about 4mph. (I'm not up to speed on knots yet ). The first time the boat heeled over to 15 degrees the admiral call out from the cabin (where she had been hiding - apparently I make her nervous when I do stuff I've never done before) "What are you doing?!" My reply - "Sailing!"

Look forward to doing more of the same

Russell

[mastreb]

I'm not up to speed on knots yet

Just set your chartplotter to report speed in knots and you're there

7 knots = 8mph. So when people say they're doing 14 knots, that's 16 mph, and 21 knots is 24mph. Knots are used because a boat traveling 1 knot moves 1 minute along a meridian per hour. This makes ded. reckoning a lot easier to reconcile on a chart. A knot is also close to 2km (1.85km), which is what international navies and air services use, and very close to 2000 yards (2025). I come from the Navy, so all this talk of mph kind of grates my teeth

Matt