Third and fourth outings w/ the C-16

[Cevin c Taylor]

Just wanted to give you guys an update on my last two outings in the '83 CP-16 I bought just before Labor Day.  Last Saturday I went out Dave, w/ a friend who's a pretty experienced sailor on Ford Lake, a small lake a few miles from my house.  We spent probably three hours sailing around the lake.  The wind was decently strong, I believe about 10 mph.  I've been frustrated w/ my outboard, and Dave said we'd be OK without it.  We sailed away from the dock w/out a problem, and ended up gliding back to the dock on our jib.  It felt great to be able to do that, and while I still want to get the outboard to where it's reliable, being able to confidently sail up to the dock is great.  Dave had the boat heeling over to where the rub rail was probably 4" or 5" off the water.  At first this made me nervous, but it was good to see how the boat handles it without a problem.  The next day the conditions were almost the same, with the wind a bit lighter.  I went out with my 15 yo son on the same lake, and also spent about three hours sailing up and down the lake.  I let him take the helm for probably 45 min or so, and he enjoyed it.  There's a little island in the lake, and he wanted to explore it.  I got too close and ran aground on the sand/dirt bottom.  When I stepped out in the knee deep water, the rudder was free, and I pushed it out into deeper water without a problem.  Our launch was a bit rough - the bow kept getting pushed around into another dock - lucky no one else was around.  We sailed back into the dock w/ the jib very nicely.  All in all it served to boost my confidence quite a bit.   I also put some yarn on the shrouds as a wind indicator, and that helped a lot too.  I hope to get out a few more times before the snow flies here in Michigan.

[skip1930]

Your doing what you need to do in order to understand and to learn the boat and her habit.

Your not going to capsize that boat before she rounds up, sending everything and everybody to the lee side of the hull. Great fun! Can you see bottom on Ford Lake? and if you can come about to elevate that pesky, 'stepping off the boat to push her into deeper water' syndrome.

I became tired of having my foiled rudder popping up on seaweed so I drilled a hole and bolted her down with a snowblower shear pin.

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[Cevin c Taylor]

In most places you can't see the bottom, but I don't think it's very deep.  Can't wait to get out again!

[skip1930]

Bad day here for sailing. Cold North wind, drizzle broken only by an occasional down pour.
Good day to watch the Pack beat up on the Bears and enjoy too many peanuts in the shell washed down with a blackberry brandy or two.
But sail as often as possible 'cuzzzzzzz that snow is coming. I normally wait till the first sleet storm then wait a little more for a really miserable day to pull the boat. Why do we do this?

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