Tues was another freakin hot day here in N.E.Pa.
I sure as hell wasn't going to go home and work on the house, sit my old arse on the couch and veg, so I figure I go sailing.
The boat deck was HOT!
Windy all the way up on the interstate as well as on the water.
Go the boat ready and off I went, (I'm still tinkering wiht the sail tuning, what happens when I do this, that.
As soon as I left the safety of the slip, there was breezes, but today they were all over, more than usual.
Set the jib to port, set the jib to starboard, I moved from one side of the boat to the other like...., well, alot.
There be a great breeze for 50 yards, just get setup, the boat wold leap ahead, then dead calm, then a breeze for differnt direction.
My water bottle got hot and I emptied it quick, called it a sail after 1 hour and headed back in, (maybe I'll fall overboard when I get back to the dock?).
I could see some really weird looking water in front of me, all whippy and choppy, a 50 yard section, of course I was headed RIGHT for it. Picked up the main sheet and jib sheet to get ready for???? The sheet storm......
"Now WTF is this"? I headed into it and the coolest thing happend!
The jib sail went to starboard HARD (I had it set to port, I was runnin close hauled), but, the main was still full to port!
So I was on the leading edge of 2 winds gusts!
"Fever Dream" did a 90 degree turn in a flash of a eye!
The sails were filling back and forth, weird, bit unnerving, but cool none the less.
I reached back flicked the electric motor (I like sailing with that, instant power when it gets stupid like this and..... quiet), and motored out.
Looked back and the water was still choppy "dancin" in all directions.
It was dead calm right out of it, like the water was glass!
Lowered the jig, fired the gas motor, weather vaned the main and motored the last 500 yards into the slip.
Got her all put away and used the excuse "I gotta check the hull for yuckies" and went over the side to get the sweat off me.
Later, as I was sitting drying, sucking on a HOT bottle of water, off I watched a bigger sailboat head in, she was 1/2 mile or so out.
I dunno 27'-29', she had her main sail all up but no jib.
She hit a gust across her beam and it was cool to watch her pick up speed and I thought she was going over, her hull paint was showing BIG time, some of her keel.
she turned into the wind, (either cuz she lost the sail wind or the captain had it cranked over big time), luffed, and tacked across the lake.
"Hmmm, maybe I should try just main sail sailing"?
So If I gave the jib the day off and just used the main..................
IF I did................ pros. cons, how would it handle, is it somehting your should do in stong wind?
As she got closer, I could see a first mate was wearing something only a young girl would wear, (the entire suite could fit into a sandwich bag, with rool to spare), the captain looked to be pretty young guy, so maybe he just rolled the jib up cuz he was nervous???
So that was my day, I got the top of my feet sunburnt, was cooker on the bike on the highway to and from, (you know it's hot when you riding down the highway and you fell sweat on your back and your dripping in your helmet), but ANYDAY on my boat (and ice cream- I rode my bike there) is better than working!
Joe
I sure as hell wasn't going to go home and work on the house, sit my old arse on the couch and veg, so I figure I go sailing.
The boat deck was HOT!
Windy all the way up on the interstate as well as on the water.
Go the boat ready and off I went, (I'm still tinkering wiht the sail tuning, what happens when I do this, that.
As soon as I left the safety of the slip, there was breezes, but today they were all over, more than usual.
Set the jib to port, set the jib to starboard, I moved from one side of the boat to the other like...., well, alot.
There be a great breeze for 50 yards, just get setup, the boat wold leap ahead, then dead calm, then a breeze for differnt direction.
My water bottle got hot and I emptied it quick, called it a sail after 1 hour and headed back in, (maybe I'll fall overboard when I get back to the dock?).
I could see some really weird looking water in front of me, all whippy and choppy, a 50 yard section, of course I was headed RIGHT for it. Picked up the main sheet and jib sheet to get ready for???? The sheet storm......
"Now WTF is this"? I headed into it and the coolest thing happend!
The jib sail went to starboard HARD (I had it set to port, I was runnin close hauled), but, the main was still full to port!
So I was on the leading edge of 2 winds gusts!
"Fever Dream" did a 90 degree turn in a flash of a eye!
The sails were filling back and forth, weird, bit unnerving, but cool none the less.
I reached back flicked the electric motor (I like sailing with that, instant power when it gets stupid like this and..... quiet), and motored out.
Looked back and the water was still choppy "dancin" in all directions.
It was dead calm right out of it, like the water was glass!
Lowered the jig, fired the gas motor, weather vaned the main and motored the last 500 yards into the slip.
Got her all put away and used the excuse "I gotta check the hull for yuckies" and went over the side to get the sweat off me.
Later, as I was sitting drying, sucking on a HOT bottle of water, off I watched a bigger sailboat head in, she was 1/2 mile or so out.
I dunno 27'-29', she had her main sail all up but no jib.
She hit a gust across her beam and it was cool to watch her pick up speed and I thought she was going over, her hull paint was showing BIG time, some of her keel.
she turned into the wind, (either cuz she lost the sail wind or the captain had it cranked over big time), luffed, and tacked across the lake.
"Hmmm, maybe I should try just main sail sailing"?
So If I gave the jib the day off and just used the main..................
IF I did................ pros. cons, how would it handle, is it somehting your should do in stong wind?
As she got closer, I could see a first mate was wearing something only a young girl would wear, (the entire suite could fit into a sandwich bag, with rool to spare), the captain looked to be pretty young guy, so maybe he just rolled the jib up cuz he was nervous???
So that was my day, I got the top of my feet sunburnt, was cooker on the bike on the highway to and from, (you know it's hot when you riding down the highway and you fell sweat on your back and your dripping in your helmet), but ANYDAY on my boat (and ice cream- I rode my bike there) is better than working!
Joe
