Shakedown 1

We installed the keel and got the rigging sorted out today, which meant that there were no more major obstacles keeping us from sailing today. So we took the opportunity to give the boat its first shakedown, despite the heavy and unpredictable winds that we experienced. With the winds as strong as they were today, we were afraid to run up the main sail in this untested boat; so we decided to unfurl only the jib. We were shocked by the results. We managed quite respectable speed both upwind and down with only the jib in place, and she handled beautifully. Now we just can not wait to see what she can do with the main and the jib; unfortunately, a storm is moving in tonight which is predicted to hang around until at least Thursday -- so no sailing until at least then.

Oh and to make the wait more unbearable; Cliff, who owns the boatyard, saw us when we came back to shore and told us that with the main and the jib to the wind, this boat has the potential to plane. I, for one, absolutely can not wait to experience that.

On the Boat with Dad and Emma

Another stunning sunset on the inlet, this time out on the boat with my niece and dad. Dad clearly enjoyed being out there, almost as much as Emma. Yet again, we were not sailing, but we had a fabulous time motoring out to the deeper water and conversing as the sun fell. This time the motor ran perfectly, as we had the killswitch key. It started with ease and made me proud -- that little 2.5 horsepower outboard.

I've been watching a lot of Mr. Show on Youtube lately. It's been keeping me up late at night and preventing me from getting enough sleep. Maybe tonight I will turn that trend around... Maybe, but -- probably not.

More work, Less fun

We tried to take the boat out again tonight; but were met with limited success. We paddled out to open water and tried to start up the motor with no luck. Just like last night, we did not have the key for the killswitch on the motor, and just like last night we attempted to trick the killswitch with a piece of string. Unlike last night, however, the motor did not want to run more than a few seconds. Our wishful thinking is forcing us to blame the problem on the killswitch, but I am skeptical as to whether the solution is going to be that simple. The next time we take the boat out we should know for sure as I found the key just a few seconds after returning to shore.

Despite not getting the motor running, we made a lot of progress on the boat -- the mast is up and the stays and spreaders are in place; all we need to do now is put the boom on and run up the sails. With any luck, we'll be sailing it this weekend.

In the Water; sans sails

This is the boat in the water... technically. After a whirlwind of activity on the boat this morning including painting, drilling, mounting, and much more; we took the boat down to the water on Bill's canoe cart that I modified to handle a slightly larger load. Somehow, the two miniature BMX tires on the cart managed the 17 footer and we successfully tied the boat between two old pilings in the water with a little help from our friend Joey. Unfortunately, work called me away at one o'clock and it was not until about 9 PM that we actually got to take the boat out for a spin.

This is the first of many maiden voyages we are sure to have with this boat, as there are many stepping stones along the path from our boat to "sailboat." One those stones happens to be, of course, the sail. We did not bother putting up the mast today and therefore, tonight's excursion was a motored event only. The event went rather smoothly once we got under way with one exception: the motor cut out when we reached the middle of the inlet and would only run for a few seconds at a time.

Bill tried troubleshooting the motor while I simply enjoyed the calm from the bowdeck. After a few minutes and numerous attempted fixes, I realized that perhaps the trouble was caused by my movement to the bow a few minutes before the failure. I moved to the back of the boat and the motor started up instantly and ran as smoothly as she ever has. Apparently it likes to have a certain amount of backpressure on the exhaust or something bizarre like that.

It was a lot of fun to experience some of the fruits of our labour after the hours we have put into both the boat and the motor. Now my wishful thinking has moved on to the day when the boat becomes a sailboat.

...Soon, someday soon...

Sunset on the Inlet

Took this at the inlet by my sister's house; the sunsets here rarely disappoint. Seeing those boats made me wish we had our boat finished.

We should have our sailboat in the water in just a few days. We made great progress on the boat the week we got it, and then our progress kind of stalled until this week when we had another flurry of activity. Now, with the boat seaworthy and spreaders repaired, we could be sailing as early as tomorrow or Thursday.

My parents are coming to town for the weekend and we definetely want to be able to show off a functional boat to my father especially. He seems to love sailing, but has never really had the opportunity, or perhaps more accurately the incentive, to do so. He has been scared away from boat ownership by the decades of horror stories he has heard from his boat-owning friends. He is quick to remind us that "the happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day he buys the boat and the day he sells it." Surely if we get him out on the new (well, she's not quite new) boat he will start to see the brighter side of boating.