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.

Wait... Where'd We Put the Mast?

After leaving her in the water a few days to make sure she didn't sink, it was time to affix our spruce masterpiece of a mast and frame the hatch cover.

Launching, err, 'Floating' Party!

We've been working all summer in preparation to launch the boat, and really, for the past 6 years, we've been preparing to put the boat in the water.  That finally happened last Saturday, August 12th.  While somewhat far from being complete, the boat was painted and plugged and, well, seaworthy.

In the morning, my Dad drove the trailer down to the far end of the lake, where the boat launch is.  I drove the powerboat over.  Once we had the boat in the water and hooked up, we switched and Dad drove the powerboat, towing the sailboat with me in it.  Yes, I got the first ride! :)  Later in the day we had some neighbors and friends over to see the launch, and I ad-libbed a christening 'ceremony.'  It was great fun, and so awesome to see the boat finally in the water!  She's sleek and ... hydrodynamic.  It's a nice, low-slung, look in the water, that is somehow reminiscent of a duck (the plans call her the "Eider" but we decided on the name "Wind Runner."

Here are some photos from the day and a video of the christening if I can upload the whole thing... (I'll try to do this for later...)

But really, you've got to watch the video of the christening!

Trailering

This was something of an adventure.  We didn't know ahead of time if the trailer would fit.  We thought it would, because we'd made measurements, but there's a lot that goes into it, and in the end, it proved difficult to know whether something unexpected would foil our attempt.

Initially, the boat was on four stands, on which it has stood, more or less, for the past five years.  Trailering entailed removing one stand and replacing it with a car jack, backing the trailer up as far as we could... then moving that jack, removing a second stand, adjusting the rear stands, replacing the car jack in a different location ... you get the picture.  Trying to keep the keel from scraping against the steel cross-pieces of the boat trailer was the hardest part, but it escaped with only a couple of little crunches.  It was a tough process, and a tiring one, both emotionally and physically, but I have to hand it to my Dad -- he really thought through the process, and in the end, it worked out well.

It was amazing to see the boat on a trailer and outside of the garage for the first time!  It looked smaller (being down lower), but it was also awesome to just sit back and her smooth lines... and then it was on to working that accent stripe on the side... (yup, more taping...)