My best day yet!

[romei]

Saturday I started out on the water about 1:00.  I was on call and working till then, but at 1:00 I cast off with my dog for the days adventure.  There wasn't much wind and what wind there was was usually blowing straight in my face so I fired up the johnson with the sail up and did the best I could to get to the "swimming hole" where most of my buddies hang out.  2 miles down the north branch of the river and 4 miles up the west branch.  I made it in about an hour and a half, dropped anchor and cracked a cold one.  I have a dog ladder rigged up that I can install in about a minute and Sky was having a blast fetching his Kong.  That dog loves to swim.  I hung out on the boat reading "Black Wave", drank beer and tossed the kong every time Sky brought it back and gave it to me.  I'd hop in and cool off every so often.  It was about 85 degrees and the wind started picking up as the day went on.

I pulled up about 6:00 and headed out into the main channel to head back home.  I've figured out how to stretch out the entire gaff sail now and get all of it's power.  The wind was directly at my back and while I know it's somewhat dangerous, I just couldn't resist kicking out out all the way and just going on a run.  I had the GPS set to MPH instead of knots and I was moving between 5 and 6.5 mph for the whole 4 mile run down the west branch.  It must have looked really good because 3 different boats pulled up beside me and were hollering things like "Lookin good buddy"!  On two of the boats the captains were giving me the thumbs up while they were shouting their compliments over their engine noise.

I got down to the big water where both branches come together and turned to port which put me on a beam reach and my sail was grabbing alll the wind it could.  It pushed my rub rail down into the water.  I let out a little sheet and made a small rudder correction and looked at the GPS and saw that I was hitting 7.3 mph.  YEAH BABY!  That's a first for me.  I started back up the north branch and there was no wind there because it's blocked by the land.  I decided to head back out into the big water and play for about 1/2 hour more.  When I was finished, I hit the north branch again, furled the sail and motored back up 2 miles to my dock.  It was a great day for me at my level of experience.  I start a 10 day vacation on Thursday and I hope I have more days like that  one.

[Bob23]

Rom:
   Sounds like a perfect day, the one we try to replicate but at the same time, realize they are rare and therefore relish in that rareness. Hopefully not too rare!
   Love the boat! Keep up the good posts!
Bob23

[John J]

Romei,

Are you using the same gaff sail you converted to this spring?  Your adventure is encouraging.  How well does she point upwind?  Haven't converted my CP16 yet but like the idea of modifying
the main to a gaff sail.  Keep us posted.

John J.

[yknot]

By any chance do you have a photo of your dog ladder (or a really vivid description)?  I'd love to see what you rigged up.  We have a small dog, and have to literally beach the boat in order to give him 'free reign' to play.

[romei]

John J,
Yes, it's the same rig I built.  I have it dialed in pretty good now and have learned how to use it.  I've found that it works better if I rig it so that the sail is a little baggy at the front and taught at the rear.  It points about the same as the original rig.  Where I sail is above a dam in a river though, and there is pretty good current.  I have trouble pointing upstream when the wind and current are both working against me, but I had trouble with the original rig in that situation as well.  If the wind is blowing upstream and I am going downstream, I can point just fine.

I can't wait to sail in a real lake or bay.

yknot,
I have a paws aboard ladder.  Here are a bunch of pics from the web, but they are not of mine.  http://tinyurl.com/lfe6m8 (you can click on the shopping link at the top of the page to get the best prices) 

I customized mine so that it hangs off the starboard side of the boat instead of on the ladder so that I can use the boat's ladder and the dog can use his at the same time.  I attach it to the genoa track and the rear cleat with the included velcro strips.  There is not a day that goes by when I'm out there that someone doesn't come up and check it out and wish they had one, but they are a bit pricey, and I am still the only one there that has one because of that.  It works fantastic.  I think everyone that owns a boat and a water dog should have one. 

[romei]

I took a shot of my setup with the dog ladder for you the other day while we were swimming.

[B.Hart]

    Hi romei, great photo. one question what type of sail do you have on your furler?  HAPPY DOG SAILING   BILL

[romei]

It's a 155 genny, but I don't use it as a genny.  Since I moved the mast 3 feet forward, it changed the angle, or rake of the fore stay and the angle of any jib or genny when you hank one on.  It raised the clew up about a foot and a half or two feet when unfurled so you really can't sheet it tight like you'd need it to be if you were wanting to use it that way.

This genny is fairly thin and soft and I use it like a spinnaker for downwind sailing only.  If I have good wind I'll let it puff up by itself, and if there's just light wind I'll put a whisker pole on it.  Sometimes I run it wing on wing and some times I run it by itself.  To be honest though, Since my gaff sail works as well as it does, 90% of the time it just stays furled.  It does work surprisingly well though and it's much easier to deploy and douse than my spinnaker.

Since I am a below knee amputee, I like to spend as little time as possible on deck.  I'm a bit shakey up there.

[B.Hart]

  Thanks for the info, sounds like you have a good set up that works for you. I love the look of the gaff rig.  HAPPY SAILING   BILL

[multimedia_smith]

Have been watching and waiting... Too HOT here and the dailiy report is always the same... "scattered thunderstorms"
which means, there is zero wind and then BAM!  Also with heat and humidity both in the 90s... it's miserable.
Like I said... watching and waitind... and Yes, the freak cool front actually broke through this weekend.  North wind about 10kts to start picked up to about 13 for a while and then back to around 5 by sunset... I'm on the North shore of Lake Ponchartrain and when the wind is from the North... the lake is relatively flat as there is no fetch... The wind shifted to out of the West and it got a little lumpy, but it was so nice to have the cooler DRY air come through.  I couldn't believe it was August.
Was out ALL day!  First sail of the Season... there was a regatta of large sailboats on the lake also... along with everyone who could get out.  Our season is just about to start... I can't wait 'till October...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/com-pac/photos/album/712582202/pic/1735968293/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=41&count=20&dir=asc

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/com-pac/photos/album/712582202/pic/2005936447/view?picmode=original&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=41&dir=asc


Sorry for the low quality of the pics, but they were taken on my cell phone.\
I had the "A" rig... 155 and FB main... and was Haulin'... the GPS shot shows 7.3 but that's sustained speed (peaked over that but has to hold for several seconds to register).  The top number is present speed, the mid is sustained peak, and the bottom is average.

Cheers everyone..
Dale