My son and I went out on our H240 Tuesday. The winds were 15 mph, gusting to 20. I reefed the main and we motored out of the harbor. Shawn kept pointing her into the wind whenever the rail got close to the water and I let out the main sheet. Eventually we got comfortable with the angle of sail and enjoyed ourselves for about an hour an a half. The issue came when we decided to return to the harbor. The end of the jib down haul line that I had rigged was not secured and it had looped up over the spreader. I had to go forward and pull down the jib manually. The same mistake with the jib sheets. I had not knotted the ends and one was over the side and the other pulled through the forward block. I looked like a lame, one armed paper hanger. Everything was so much easier to get to on our Hobie 18.
Shawn was having his own issues with the boat keeping her headed into the wind. She kept falling off and the propeller would come out of the water. It was a great experience. The winds were just strong enough to teach but not to cause any damage except to our egos. I will say it did make Shawn a believer in roller furling but that is not in the budget.
My mainsail is in poor shape. The previous owner said that It had be repaired several times. Actually it had been repaired twice and patched once. It needs more tape. I am not going to replace it until I have made all the future mistakes which might damage a new one.
It was our best day on the lake.
Shawn was having his own issues with the boat keeping her headed into the wind. She kept falling off and the propeller would come out of the water. It was a great experience. The winds were just strong enough to teach but not to cause any damage except to our egos. I will say it did make Shawn a believer in roller furling but that is not in the budget.
My mainsail is in poor shape. The previous owner said that It had be repaired several times. Actually it had been repaired twice and patched once. It needs more tape. I am not going to replace it until I have made all the future mistakes which might damage a new one.
It was our best day on the lake.