Winds were 10-15mph. Temperature was in the mid to upper 90's with high humidity. We took care of chores around the farm and headed out before 10am.
The ramp parking lot was not even a third full and fortunately, the ramp was moving fairly quickly.
Angie took care of her rigging duties and waited for me to raise the mast and rig Galactica. In the noon heat, she got overheated again.
We launched Galactica without incident other than I had opened the ballast valve before rigging and Angie closed it while connecting the Engine linkage to the rudders. As we pulled from the pier, I brought Galactica into the middle of the cove and spun her into the wind. Without ballast, we leaned over quite far. That was unexpected. I had a reef in the main sail from last year; so I left it in.
Winds were great!!! We tacked up the main channel to the spalding pool, following a large catalina. Eventually, as winds died in the late afternoon heat, we caught up with the sailboat. It was two MTSLA members whom we hadn't met before. Jan and Kevin.
Most of my modifications worked very well! The larger helm and swivel cleats for the Genoa made sailing easier and completely handled by me. This gave Angie a break to relax. It took her a couple hours to return to normal as she had gotten too overheated. We sucked down 3/4 a case of water over the two days!
Then Stern Rail seats are a fantastic addition. The poor man's autopilot worked quite well. On a particularly long tack of a couple miles while Angie was napping, I was able to set the 'autopilot' which is just a thumbscrew on the steering shaft and even with the boat heeled over 15 degrees I was able to walk forward and go below!
The two mods that were a bust was the spring cable on the forward hatch which got pinched and failed to hold the hatch open afterwards. The other was the bimini top. I moved it forward but it was simply in the way. We'll miss its shade but I'm removing it.
We gunkholed in Indian Creek with a power cruiser. My mast light worked great! The new Richter Anchor held us, even in a violent thunderstorm which hit us around 3am.
The veeberth cushions we salvaged from an old Venture 24 named "Mast Confusion" worked wonderfully! Angie actually was comfortable. I admit, it was more comfortable than just the 2010 Mac vberth cushions! Winds were strong when we first left our anchorage in the morning so I hoisted sails and began a beat back to the ramp. About halfway, winds died down so we motored back.
Approach to the ramp dock went well--even with on lookers there. We loaded. The trailer bunk and roller mods worked well!
It was a great weekend sail!
Follow this link to some videos posted on my YouTube Channel!
I'm planning on taking Galactica to a Race and Regatta followed by a full moon sail soon. Afterwards, Angie and I are planning on taking Galactica to a lake on the Arkansas border. My sons want to stay home and mind the farm--perhaps someday one of them will want to sail.
No comments:
Post a Comment