First Sail. At long last!

The floating party was amazing, and fun, and a satisfying climax to this project, but it wasn't quite the end.  We had to actually sail it.

After a day and a morning of preparations, such as cleaning, checking and rechecking the rigging.  Getting better at raising and lowering the mast, we set off on a beautiful, sunny, July day for the boat launch.  And on the water -- it works!  It actually works.  Like a real sailboat!

So how was the first sail?  Well, she's not a racer, but she's solid and steady, and she cuts a beautiful line on the water.  Of course, there were some creaks that made us scratch our heads.  And the gaffe jaws continually tried to ruin our lovely mast, and partly succeeded.  And she didn't really want to stop sailing; that is, when we tried to take the mainsail down, we had to get a little rough.  So there may be things to adjust and re-work.  

Did I say that the first sail would be the end?  More like the beginning, but a beginning with plenty of promise.

Rigging - Sails Up!

Time for this sailboat to have sails!  Thanks to Chuck Domby, who gave us an beautiful old triangular sail he had, and we measured it out to have it cut for our gaffe-rigged boat. 

Rigging - Part I

It turns out that when you think you're almost done building a sailboat, that you have to do all the things that actually make it a sailboat -- aka "rigging".

First were the stays -- those are the ropes (later, cables) that keep the mast upright.  Tricky to get the lengths right.

Then came the extra hardware to keep all the ropes (oh, those are coming!) in line.  The pulleys that will handle the main sheet, mounted on the boom, and a nifty mast/boom holder for when the boat is in transit or trailered.

The Great Sliding Hatch Cover

The Engineer (Jay) came up with a beautiful sliding hatch cover.  It's easy enough to move, and heavy-duty enough that it won't get off track, and would probably even survive one of us standing on it!

He also added a slick handrail next to it!

I love all the brightwork that just leads the eye right up to the bowsprit.