Well, since you asked...I'll share again
Glenn, Forgive the impersonal touch of PASTING a former posting into this thread, but here's the lowdown on our July 4th sail! Don't know if you heard I sold the 170 last weekend- for a 1987 Compac 19 shoal-keelboat that I picked up a couple weeks ago. The 4th sail was her maiden voyage somewhat eventful, as you'll see. Best, Mike G. ================= Hello Rick, Tereza, Jerry and Benny, Thank you all for your best wishes on my new boat purchase. Here's a quick rundown on our maiden voyage yesterday in "Freebird". My wife and I trailered her to the marina I used to sail the 170 from on the St Johns River in Palatka (about halfway between Orlando and Jacksonville). We rigged her as I'd done also Saturday in our driveway as a trial run. Took about an hour and 10 minutes! Backed her down the ramp, tied spring lines to the dock. Stepping aboard, the boat barely moved under my 160 lbs. Then, *Caplooey!, the 6hp 4 stroke Mercury wouldn't start. I kept losing bulb pressure everytime and the red light on the motor kept coming on. I popped the engine cover and, while priming the bulb again, noticed gas SPEWING from a nib above the carbeurator. So I immediately resigned to no motor for this trip. Don't worry, my wife reminded me numerous times that I'd neglected to tank-test the motor at home! A nice couple in a Boston Whaler at the fueling dock (who used to own a Prindle and love sailing too) offered to tow us out to the first daymark- just out enough to catch air and not worry about having enough searoom to avoid the slips further out into the channel. We took the power tow, hoisted the main and the tow-ers threw us our long bowline. We were off. We immediately unfurled the 130% or so jib and took off. The wind was predicted 10 out of the east, but had freshened during the engine fiasco past 15knots...and was in between 15 and 20 when we finally got out there. We started on a strbd. tack and I used the port winch to haul in the jib close. Looking at fixed points (daymarks), and past that to land, I was really impressed with the headway we were making. She's not a Melges 24, but not slow either. Although I do think we were making a slight bit of leeway as well- due to the hefty but only 2' shoal draft keel. We took some puffs above 20 knots and the boat heeled up only slightly. I didn't even think about reefing the main or the large jib. I headed up with a couple of the puffs and the sails luffed more readily that in a 170- or a faster keelboat for that matter. I think that because the jib does sheet in as closely on this boat than some others, that you lose airflow more quickly when heading up slightly. Once we settled into a long tack, my wife and the dog went below to lay down on the v-berth. She exclaimed that she could easily fall asleep on this berth, so that wasn't bad to hear. We're planning some weekend/overnighters/trailersails to the Keys with this new boat. We sailed south toward the ICW bridge (the standard big, concrete 65' center clearance deal) at Palatka, and then back north to the marina's channel daymarks. Just off the ICW channel markers, we dropped sails, dropped the Danforth, and went for a swim. Put the hotdog bun-like lifejacket on the mini dachshund and brought her into the water too. Life is good. We got back aboard, pulled anchor and the boat beared away, off the wind. And a bigger blast of wind came, but I was still able to get the boat head to wind as my wife raised the sail. In our 170, we'd have had to let her go 360 around until coming back around into the wind, and then raise sail. This keelboat points to wind extremely well, and won't bear off (with sails down) as faster daysailers do. The marina's on the west shore and the wind had been blasting out of the east all day- so we had to run in to the dock/ramp. I rigged one of the two anchors into the cockpit in case we needed an emergency brake. We dropped the jib and ran in on main alone. A ways out, we dropped the main and coasted in, turning hard to port/the dock at the last second and then leveling out straight again. Success! Our little V6 Ford Escape suv (4 wheel drive) pulled our rather dense little yacht out with aplumb- nary a slip on the ramp. A big relief! Aside from all the positive conclusions I made about this boat- one is that we will dry-store her, mast up and fully rigged, on the trailer in the marina yard. The rigging learning curve is just too steep. Even when you know what you're doing- it's nowhere in the ballpark as easy as rigging a daysailer. One psychological barrier is that, the gunwale is seven feet off the ground when she's on her trailer...so any moves from the ground to the cockpit are made via large step ladder. This disconnect with the ground is just daunting. We had nowhere near our hottest day of the summer in Florida yesterday--- maybe only 92 degrees-- heat index 98??-- but it's just morale-busting rigging for over an hour in an 11 UV index! I happily just registered the vessel today at the county tax collector's- so have to add the FL numbers to the hull this weekend. And many other tweeks/personalizations need to be done (West Marine's smiling!)- and best done in the comfort of the driveway, so I don't foresee dry berthing Freebird until the end of July. I'm going to take my time- definitely going to do it right! Talked to the marina ops. manager and the dry berthing is only $30. more a month than the outdoor mini storage slot we currently use-- so I'm glad it's a good deal. There are several Precisions, Catalinas, a Montgomery 17, 3 Hunter water-ballasts and other sailboats there too. And the folks at the marina are very nice- the powerboaters even give you the time- which you can't beat! (sailors are always so hard on the powerboaters...) I will have many more reports as we weekend-camp up and down the St Johns, and eventually trailer to other FL destinations. I hope this wasn't too "windy" a reply! Happy sails, Mike G. s/v Freebird ===================
I was stuck at home :-( I did have some nice Bar B Que's and went to one, just missed not having the boat out all :-(