beaching ds2

[flagbag]

Curious in your ideas & experiences in operating ds2 onto & launching from beach.
Two scenarios in mind.. one on fresh water lake where we might go ashore for night after launching from ramp & trailer and then return same way. Other than obvious need to lift the centerboard and rudder, any other tips and advice?
Two.. need to figure how to initially launch from trailer off a desolate and gradually sloped ocean beach. Interested in previous innovative posts including one where trailer is backed with a rope attached until completely submerged then retrieved.
Finally.. does the Day Sailer II lend to being pushed up onto and down from a sandy beach? Is it a two person task or with a weight exceeding, I think, 600 lbs is it untenable unadvisable?
Thanks in advance for your ideas and experiences. God bless your voyages with fair winds & good company.

 

[Pat]

Hi Flagbag, we had a DS II for about 4 years.....our first boat...we sail on a reservoir in
Kansas but also trailered it to Table Rock several times.....We did not keep it in the water on a mooring or anything...normally would launch from the trailer and I and often a friend would sail it to our camp-site and pull it up in the sand to secure it when not sailing it...this could happen 4 or 6 times a weekend....the fiberglass on the boat was so
great that there was never a scratch pulling it up on to the sand or launching it from the sand...we would always lift the centerboard, etc. & we would literally sail right up on the sandy beach...the beaches at our lake are great smooth pure sand....no rock or anything.....we loved our daysailor but truthfully, I was not a great sailorboy when I owned it and I have often wished I had kept it....I truthfully learned to sail it by sailing in one of Ninnescah Yacht Club's Memorial Weekend Regatta.(it was an open regatta)..when just before the 1st race the wind shifted to the north and suddenly the entire lake was washed in white caps....we did learn to sail that day when we were forced to sail to weather & also downwind in 25 mph winds & waves....at the end of the first race we sailed back to the beach as conquering heros to eat breakfast with our wives on the beach/campground..not understanding there were 4 more races....we heard the horn announcing the next race and looking @ ea. other and decided we would not go back out again, but it was the best sail of our lives to that point....O'Day Daysailors are really great boats. but you have to really learn how to sail them and have fun and have a lot of confidence. Patrick in Wichita

 

[flagbag]

Pat.. thanks for sharing your experience beaching the Day Sailer. The idea of sailing right up on a sandy beach sounds like fun! And its what I was wondering about for our local lakes. Our DSII is our platform for learning to sail too, and its proving to be a wonderful instructor. Again.. thanks and 'Fair Winds'

 

[talbotb]

No reason not to beach a Day Sailer. We do it all the time. No problem relaunching if the stern is afloat. (And tie it up, even if it seems stuck fast. The waves have a way of floating boats away._ For actually pulling the DS up onto a beach, you would need rollers. Look up the Everglades Challenge race. Boats have to launch off a beach, and the competitors (including Day Sailers) have various approaches to getting under way. When beaching, watch out for larger rocks. What looks like sand from the water sometimes turns out to be gravel. Remember that your rudder (even lifted) and your self-bailer extend below the hull. If you want to have the boat to the shore stern first, drop an anchor on the way in, so you can pull the boat back out a few feet to keep the rudder and bailer clear. Tie the stern off to rock or tree on the shore.

 

[flagbag]

Thanks for the post and; Glad you told me about the self-bailer!