The "Perfect" Carlyle Lake Sail

[MacGyver]

On Saturday June 7th, my wife and I decided to we were going to go out at 8 am and sail till our hearts content for that day. The wind ended up being out of the east at around supposedly 9mph. It was supposed to be perfect all day. So we set sail shortly after 8 am, under full main and full 140 roller furling Genoa. We were going along at about a 7.5 to 10 degree heel, running about 4 to 5 knots.

We sailed North till we hit the Hazlett access into the lake where we tried to furl the 140 to about a 80 but the sail began machine gunning and frankly that raises the stress, as it is annoying and it was getting gusty let alone choppy........
As we neared the 2nd silo and could start to see Keyesport Marina, which was the other end of the lake, we both decided after a little more northward progress we would turn back, and head for the dock. It had gotten really rough here, with some rollers attacking the boat. So far we were on one tack all the way.

Neither one of us wanted to use the porta potty, as that would cause that person to have to clean it out...... and who wants to do that job? LOL! So finally back we went, Under full main, making about 3.5 knots. We both hadnt argued much, as there wasnt much to argue about really, there wasnt much going on besides steering the right way, talking about gusts and puffs, observing the shoreline that was near and the fact that this was the first time we had run this far up the lake in our boat TOGETHER. Some arguments came with the issues of the adjustment to the headsail, and the flapping which I never could get under control due to leech line slippage in the cleat.

As we neared CSA, We applied more ponies by deploying the 140 again, which supercharged the boat. Heeling to 12 degrees at times, maybe a little more, we nervously forged on, calming each other down, and working towards not only learning the boat, but avoiding the small craft out for a small race near and around CSA. We ended up furling the 140 back when we had a issue with a set of boats that caused a mis-communication between my wife and I to which she later during conversation just says "I just simply let the tiller go....... I dont know why, I just did."

What we finalized the event with was: Heading south, under full main and 140, we were pulling away from a rocky shore, the 140 to help since the main had us barely moving along. As we approached 2 boats sailing on starboard tacks heading Northeast, I notified Ginger (my wife) that they had the right of way, she watched carefully. A sudden large gust came, and so she tried to head up wind to compensate, as the boat heeled more than her comfort zone (don't get me wrong, you all know I don't like heeling either!) she got worried because heading up wind wasn't scrubbing off the heel factor, so as she did that she reached a point of being into the wind, to which I acted fast bumbling to the starboard side to uncleat the genoa line causing the boat to abruptly heel to 30 or so due to my weight. The head sail backwinded for a slight bit, and the boat turned sharply headed North. Ginger regained the tiller, as I just reeled in the furler line putting away the head sail in a horrible fashion.

After a big breath of air on both of our parts, we calmly turned the boat back around and headed south again, under full main yet through the CSA race course and past a hobie cat who was probably waiting to see who the newbies on the ComPac actually were.....Ginger also witnessed a boat, about 18 or 20 in length, heel so far as to lay the main sail into the water and pop back up visibly shaking up the family aboard. when I turned to look the headsail on their boat was loose and they were back upright, so I cant attest to how bad a situation it was, just that the kids scurried to stay on the windward side quickly.

We then made it down to a path leading straight to the marina and sailed down wind as we took the bimini down, and made ready to dock back at our slip. That was the fastest down wind sailing we had done on the boat, I had literally just enough time (wife at the helm) to drop the bimini, sleeve it with the cover, and drop the engine and start it, as we entered the marker bouys outside the harbor.

We made it to the dock at 12:10pm or so...... On a lake map, it looks like we covered about 16 miles. Maybe a little more.

As we entered the harbor, the marina was bustling with boaters, all racers who had headed back in or stayed at the dock to wait out a coming storm, which never showed up. A few of them had indeed gone out, and were running along at probably 20 to 30 degree heel and massive sail up, some even using Spinnakers just cruising faster than you'd think a sailboat could go. Those folks that were out, had just about followed us back in.

We ended with giant smiles on our faces, closing up the boat remarking how wonderful a day it had been, and how it was only our 3rd sail of the year. But what a fantastic 3rd sail it had been...... both of us encouraging each other to push the boat past our comfort zone, if just for a second, so we could learn what all she would do. My wife commenting how "She (the boat) wants to just head into the wind" and also "it is tiring on my arm to be at the helm" but in the same breath "No, I am fine, I want to stay here, it is fun to push the limits" as I just smiled knowing that this was good for her, to pilot the boat, and also learn that side of the boat instead of just the sit back and ride portion of the experience. It was good for me too to lose control of the situation as I typically try to do it all while teaching her from time to time.

Had it not been for that mishap, we would have sailed up and back, on one tack, and that my friends is according to many sailors at the marina, the best possibly sailing scenario that only happens a couple of rare times a year.

Mac

[crazycarl]

i'm sorry but that was not the perfect sailing day because you...

"Hadn't Said Anything About Momma, Or Trains, Or Trucks, Or Prison, Or Gettin' Drunk."





cc

[HideAway]

Sounds like a good day to me -- you learned a lot about the boat and each other - and handled a crisis.

For us that sort of thing happened after I started making the videos - I could not pilot the boat and the cameras so Linda took over as capt.  Now it s hard to get her off the tiller- she has steered us through some very difficult circumstances- but she won t touch the out board.  Probably just as well - that way I get some tiller time    M