Okay I went out to the lake last night for the first time (totally solo that is) because the wind seemed nice where I live. (~10mph or so) and I didn't have anything else to do.
Anyway I stopped at Lowe's on the way to the lake to get a 4' (1.3m) step ladder and I tell ya it made ALL THE DIFFERENCE. Took me a while to set up the boat by myself, but aside from a few minor things that are still "just getting used to the boat," I didn't have any problems. I modified the steps I outlined previously as follows:
1) Park truck and boat
2) Position 4' step ladder ~10' behind boat (and centered)
3) Slide mast backwards so that it's lying on the top of the ladder with the base near the step
4) Attach mast base to mast step with hinge
5) connect trap wires to front pylons
6) Ensure trap wires are snug and side stay chaim plates are lying in such a way as to ensure they rotate properly
7) attach "raising rope" to jib halyard shackle. Ensure shackle is raised to tang.
8 ) Run raising rope around suitable part of the trailer and back through jib sheet cam cleat
9) Standing behind the boat lift the mast to your shoulder and walk forward, up ladder, onto tramp, and to the front crossbar until the mast is vertical
10) Pull "raising rope" tight through cam cleat
11) Attach forestay to bridle
12) Remove mast hinge
Easy! (Took the better part of an hour though. 8/ I suppose I'll get better with practice.
Anway then I put the boat in the water, walked it around to the beach adjacent to the ramp, parked the truck, went back to the boat, raised the sails, and proceeded to sail into the pier because the wind was so light that the rudders had no authority, I just sort of drifted into it. I kept leaving the rudders and walking forward to push off the pier then go back to steer again but I'd just drift into the pier. After this happened several times I finally got away from shore and into the breeze.
Going more or less on a broad reach / run I moved very slowly down the lake. I was wondering "gee... If I'm going more or less straight down wind, how am I going to get back to the boat ramp? (because you have to go through a very narrow passage to get into the other side of the lake). Anyway, I decided however far I was, at 7PM I was going to turn around and head back. Meanwhile I was watching this beautiful thunderstorm (from a distance - I knew it was way north of me and not heading in my direction at all) and thinking about the beauty of nature.
So 7PM came and I made probably my best tack ever around a floating plant in the lake and headed back up. Perhaps not surprisingly, heading on a close reach I went considerably faster and even hiked out just a bit on the tramp. Tacking back the other way was much slower, but ultimately after a few more fast/slow tacks I got through the narrows and into the southern part of the lake again. I think it was about then that the wind dropped from a more or less steady 4-5 knots to 1-2.
The boat was moving forward (I could tell from the tiny bow wake and burble from the rudders) but slowly enough that I could leave the tiller and walk forward onto the bows just because I felt like it. I also lay back on the tramp and stared up at the sail, backlit by the sunset, and past it to clouds floating lazily by. No other boats to disturb my quiet period. I was wishing I had brought my camera because it was so relaxing. But of course I'm paranoid to bring an $850 camera on a sailboat where capsizing is not uncommon. Heh. I need a waterproof one.
~
Ultimately, after a good 20-30 minutes of this 0.2mph sail a pontoon boat happened along and towed me back to the boat ramp. That was nice of them. By that time it was starting to get dark, but I got the boat back on the trailer and out of the water where I reversed the above steps to take everything down. My only two :doh: moments were when
(a) I realized I forgot the gooseneck at my friend's house so I sailed around with no gooseneck...and
(b) when, 10 minutes out from the boat ramp, I realized that although I had hoisted the main I had forgotten to hook the nub in the wire rope halyard over the mast hook; so I had to turn up and "park" for a minute while I did that on the water.
All in all I had a good time and my confidence level went up some, although a bit more wind would've been nice! Again, having the 4' step ladder made stepping the mast and taking it down again WAY easier than it has ever been before. I recommend it!!
Also - yesterday was the first time I've sailed since adding tell-tales to the jib and the minor tweaking I did to make them "happy" really improved performance. I think they were a good buy for $4 from West Marine!
Just felt like sharing.
