Splash - AKA Trailer Sailing Details to Remember...

[Steve Ullrich]

Not the windiest day I've seen but it was a beautiful afternoon to float the boat.  As I kept my last sailboat on a mooring ball for the season it has been many years since I launched and retrieved a boat in the same day.  It didn't go so badly.  I had her rigged and in the water in less than a half hour, about the same retrieving her.  I think we can shave that down to more like twenty minutes either way if we can avoid a few sequence errors that cost us a little time.  Here are a few things I'm going to try and remember before I haul her out again:


•   Don't leave your tools at home!
•   Don't forget your 4' step ladder if you have plenty of room in the back of your truck.
•   Keep the boom out of the cockpit until you are ready for it.
•   The anchor is in the way while stepping the mast. Might as well not leave it on the bowsprit while towing.
•   Rule: Shrouds will catch on anything and everything that they can before you have the mast up.
•   Rig the main sheet at the same time that you attach the topping lift so the boom isn't swinging around like a wild animal.
•   Rig dock lines and fenders BEFORE you are next in line to launch.
•   Mount your brand new spare tire on the side of the winch post that DOESN'T have a handle on it.
•   If you have a small engine with no reverse, be sure and point it TOWARDS the dock after you start it if you still have folks holding lines that need to board.
•   Rig the jib sheets BEFORE you hoist the jib.
•   Replace the slug block in the mast BEFORE lowering the main.
•   Loosen the bowsprit cable BEFORE attempting to winch her back on to the trailer.
•   buy some waterproof shoes or sandals before the next time that I retrieve her.
•   Don't keep your cell phone in the handy little pocket that is closest to the water while retrieving a sailboat.

Had a great time.

[B.Hart]

  Hi Steve, lots of good tips, soon you'll have a routine and not think twice about it.    HAPPY SAILING   BILL

[NateD]

Good tips. Our setup time is 20-25 minutes, but that does not include dock lines/bumpers since I usually have someone there to hold the boat while I park. I doubt we could do it much faster than that.

Where did you splash it?

[Rick Klages]

I don't even think about it!  Takes about 30 minutes from trailer to sailor working by my self.

[don l]

Will Splash, middle of June, I have been all over this boat, last year, last winter, this spring, hey, I am ready.  Last year very unsure, this year, much more understanding.  A whole winter of reading and looking at the boat, a buying, new halyards, boom tent, ladder, solar, boy and other stuff.  come on weather give me a break, please, please....