Lesson learned When sailing off the wind...

[kitcat]

Interesting thoughts from Mika, and I'm sure many of us have though along the same lines, but as Catigale say, it is all about the intrinsic nature of the boat. I'm wondering though, how much slower our boats are when reefed to keep them upright, than other 'proper' sailboats who are not reefed? Given that they weigh so much more, surely our light weight makes up for having less sail area up at any given time?

Paul

[bscott]

Yesterday--Lake Granby, Colorado--pool elevation 8,150'. Wife and I picked up our 14 yr. old grandson for his first day of sailing without his 2 other siblings along. Up to this point Huff n' Puff was a fishing boat and a tube runner--the only time I had a sail up with them aboard was to troll for lake trout.

I told Grammy we'd double reef the main as the forecast was for 63F temps, clear skies, 10-15 mph out of the NWN, gusting to 22. That forecast means we can run 7 miles down Arapaho Bay and then tack back. So we fired up the E-tec and headed through a very narrow pass avoiding 2 Catalina 25s that were grossly over canvassed and out of control. I hoisted the 110 jib and main and off we sailed. I replaced the OEM Doyles 3 yeas ago with KH C2000s and a Schaefer Snapfurl 700--an excellent combination.

My grandson Patrick wondered why we had such little sail up compared to the other two boats--my answer was "because Grammy likes it this way and you'll soon find out why." We gybed our way averaging about 4 knts at about 10 degs. heel. During the gybe Patrick learned about how sails and wind provided propulsion and I admitted that more speed would be more fun. "Would more sail mean more speed--yep" said I.

Just at that point the wind hit the 15 mph mark and gybing became more fun for him--not Grammy!
The Catalina's never made it thru the pass so we were alone except for a few fishing boat which always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Time to tack back and I could see major wind lines coming our way. "Lets tack before the big wind hits us" said Grammy. By this time Patrick and Grammy were a well oiled sail handling machine. A perfect tack just in time for Patrick's first rail down experience. We raced across the bay close hauled at 5.5 knts and his comment was, "man that was great." "Good thing we were double reefed" said Grammy. It took us 17 tacks to make our way to the Colorado river where I planned to sail/motor up river to douse the main at one of our favorite coves. I started the E-tec and headed up stream with a furled jib but the wind was so strong behind us that I shut down the engine and sailed main only for about 1.5 miles at 4 knts. But wait--NO Cove! The water level was so low that all the protected coves were boulder fields. At that moment an S-2 under 6 hp power was struggling to pass us from the opposite direction--we waved to them but no response. "What's up with that?" said Grammy. "They have a superior boat and it is like a Porche not waving to a Morris Mini" said I. "Hurry up and dump the main so we can rip by those a-holes" said Grammy. I chose to ignore the situation and instructed her to start the E-tec and keep a steady course so I could douse the main with the wind still at our stern. She matched boat speed to the wind and it was a piece of cake to put the main away. "Good job Grammy"!

I let Patrick drive the boat back to the marina bouncing off the 3' white capped rollers. Coming into the slip it was a joy to watch him jump onto the dock, line in hand, with engine in reverse,
deftly throwing the line twice around the horn cleat topped off with a neat figure 8--kinda like roping a calf at the National Western Rodeo and Stock Show in Denver.

We decided to have pizza in Winter Park. Lots of conversation about the day but Patrick wanted to know about the Porche and Mini. I explained to him that there is a snob factor in life that reached into the sailing world. "That S-2 cost about 3 times as much as Huff n' Puff so I guess they didn't feel it necessary to wave back" He looked up and said "I bet they could not have had three times more fun than I had today."

So fellow Mac owners, a perfect family sailing/motoring day with my and Patrick said it all

Bob

[Ixneigh]

And hopefully another sailor in the making. Maybe someday he will blast past those s2 owners on a beach cat or other go fast type of sailing machine.