to sail or not
- Thread starter CapnGL
- Start date
My suggestions:
1. When you go out the first time, try sailing with the just the main sail for a while until you get used to it. Having just one sail to control (even just for the first hour) will be a lot easier than trying to figure both of them out.
2. On the Mac 26, if you bolt the rudder down you should use a plastic breakaway bolt. It is best to bolt it down (with a plastic bolt), but not absolutely necessary. You can use your rudder downhaul to hold the rudder down, but try to make sure that it is ABSOLUTELY ALL the way down as this will greatly reduce the pressure on your rudder and tiller.
1. When you go out the first time, try sailing with the just the main sail for a while until you get used to it. Having just one sail to control (even just for the first hour) will be a lot easier than trying to figure both of them out.
2. On the Mac 26, if you bolt the rudder down you should use a plastic breakaway bolt. It is best to bolt it down (with a plastic bolt), but not absolutely necessary. You can use your rudder downhaul to hold the rudder down, but try to make sure that it is ABSOLUTELY ALL the way down as this will greatly reduce the pressure on your rudder and tiller.
Your rudder should have two lines attached. One for raising it which runs external to anything, and one for lowering it to it that runs up through the middle of the tiller "post" let's call it. It should come out the top of the tiller pivot point and come forward along the tiller to a cleat where you can make it fast. Note - if you tie this line and strike bottom the rudder won't kick up. I installed a kick-up cam cleat which has saved me three times this season for varying reasons.
Forgot one other thing....on our boat, if the rudder is not down ALL THE WAY it'll make contact with the prop which makes a good mess of a nice rudder in short order. Some have crafted hoops to surround their props to protect against this. I just stay hyperaware when the motor is running and I'm in shallow waters where I might have an accidental kick up.
O
on my 25 I used a sacrificial nylon bolt, which breaks off if rudder hits something. Got it from BWY, of course...
in "Wind" , the cinematographer is literally making love with the camera to these boats...
The first time I took "Mistress" out, it was only with the motor and mainsail. I ended up dragging the neighbor kids through the water on a 200ft line, much to their enjoyment.
The second time, I put up the storm jib and mainsail (the standard jib needs replacement) to learn how she sailed. The next trip will be with a 110% jib and genoa.
The idea is to get out and play with your new toy! Learn her likes and dislikes.
Every boat has her quirks.
I should share our first sail as well actually. Dad and I went out in a wind that was far stronger than it should have been for our first sail but I'm very glad we did. We sailed on the main alone, at the second reef until we got used to things. We then went to the first reef and seeing that it was still very manageable we went to full main. We were ripping pretty good, solidly heeled but both of us were staring at the furled Genoa.......surely you know what comes next.....
I convinced dad to ease into the wind (he was having too much fun trying to wet the rub rails) and we unfurled all 130% of it. What a beautiful sight. These classics have all the lines and shapes of the sailboats of our dreams. Dad then proceeded to work it, having WAY more power at his disposal. And here's the REAL stroke of awesomeness about these boats (to my mind at least).......the harder he tried to soak the cockpit, the more the Mac resisted. When it heeled "too much" it would just round up, effectively killing the power. As gusts would hit us sure enough, up and around she'd go. Dad even tried to counter it but couldn't.
So then we partially furled the Genoa just to see how it handles partially furled (not very well....makes for a terrible sail shape) and then ultimately just furled it right up and spent the rest of the afternoon under full main, heeled over but in full control and with full confidence that the boat is watching out for us too. I really love these boats.
I convinced dad to ease into the wind (he was having too much fun trying to wet the rub rails) and we unfurled all 130% of it. What a beautiful sight. These classics have all the lines and shapes of the sailboats of our dreams. Dad then proceeded to work it, having WAY more power at his disposal. And here's the REAL stroke of awesomeness about these boats (to my mind at least).......the harder he tried to soak the cockpit, the more the Mac resisted. When it heeled "too much" it would just round up, effectively killing the power. As gusts would hit us sure enough, up and around she'd go. Dad even tried to counter it but couldn't.
So then we partially furled the Genoa just to see how it handles partially furled (not very well....makes for a terrible sail shape) and then ultimately just furled it right up and spent the rest of the afternoon under full main, heeled over but in full control and with full confidence that the boat is watching out for us too. I really love these boats.
Take it from someone (me) who did just that with my smaller 16ft mistral. We caught a gust and the boat started heeling over. I did a lot of reading before just like you did, but somehow I forgot what I had to do to stop the d... Boat. At one point my ex marine huge son in law was hanging out as far as he could holding on to one of the mooring lines, while I was screaming " how do you stop this f...g thing" and holding on to the mainsheet TO KEEP MY BALANCE
... finally just before she broached, the wind stopped and everything went back to normal. Lesson learned: the mainsheet is not to be used to keep your balance, it's the brake an the accelerator, not a lifeline.Our other lesson was TAKE A SAILING COURSE! We paid 400$ each that was money well spent.
Motor around for a little while until you get to know how the motor/boat combination behave and you have confidence in getting back where you started.
I agree with starting to sail with your mainsail only. You should probably spend at least one day with just the main. There are lots of little things that can go wrong, so the fewer systems you are learning at one time, the easier it is to figure out as it happens. Multiple small mistakes can compound into costly disaster.
Before you put your boat in the water, you should pass a boater's safety course. They are available online for not much money.
I agree with starting to sail with your mainsail only. You should probably spend at least one day with just the main. There are lots of little things that can go wrong, so the fewer systems you are learning at one time, the easier it is to figure out as it happens. Multiple small mistakes can compound into costly disaster.
Before you put your boat in the water, you should pass a boater's safety course. They are available online for not much money.
I've been around boats and water quite a bit just not sailboats...I'm learning the right of way according to position and wind as it's a little different then just passing on the right....my next question is...is a reefing hook necessary to reef a mainsail? I don't have one on my mast.
The short answer is "No." A reefing hook isn't necessary. You do, however, need some way to secure the reef tack though. There are several ways to accomplish the same task.
Not to come off as a party pooper, but try not to overthink things. Get out there, get the sails up and figure out how they work before you start thinking about the what if scenarios. As MacBoy said, and a whole lot of us have lived, the "classic" hull shape will tell you when it's not happy, it'll pop the rudder out of the water and round up faster than you can say, what just happened?
You've got all winter to digest it and it's coming rather fast this year.
not at all Meriachee.... I know I sound very tenuous with all these questions.....I'm just wanting to pull information as I move along the learning curve here. I am chomping at the bit waiting for a decent day on a weekend....I would be fairly comfortable motoring out and raising a sail on a close haul and going for it. I REALLY appreciate the advice....all of it.
I know I sound very tenuous with all these questions.....I'm just wanting to pull information as I move along the learning curve here. I am chomping at the bit waiting for a decent day on a weekend....I would be fairly comfortable motoring out and raising a sail on a close haul and going for it. I REALLY appreciate the advice....all of it.
Not tenuous at all! Valid questions, but probably best considered after there's a few hours (days even) of solid sail time - and don't stop asking! Details abound and it's easy to get lost in them at the expense of what matters, and that's getting out there and hoisting a sail (something our weather pretty much ky-boshed this year)
I've never thought of using ky for boshing. It must be as useful as baking soda and WD-40.
Ah hahaha......took me a minute. I think the issue is it's water soluble so it's only good for temporary boshing...especially in a marine environment.