Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Loads of Work! And Our First Sail!

We spent an entire day on the hull. It was filthy and needed a lot of attention. No holes or patch work was needed at all, but it was in dire need of cleaning and waxing. Brown grime covered the bottom and it was ground in. Also, one of Elvstrom bailers needed some real work. I took it apart and it seems fine now.














After some serious elbow grease, the boat is much more shiny!

On another day, the trailer got its lights and is ready to roll!













On the same day, the mast and boom get rigged for the first time as a test!



This Tuesday, the boat was loaded on the trailer and hitched up to the old family bus. Off we went to the lake!







After a bit of a struggle getting the trailer in the water, the boat was rigged and in the water. It was time to sail!





Off we sailed...
Well, off we paddled and sailed. There was almost no wind that day. Look at the water... As smooth as glass! We sat on the lee of the boat most of the time to try and get some shape into the sails. Once out the boat launch area, we found the slightest breeze. But it was very slight. we were the only sailboat on the water the whole time! We puttered back and forth on the harbour for a while, but the wind did not pick up. So, we went back in. The first launch was an 'inauspicious' success. We were successful in getting the boat launched and sailed, however, it was soooo slow, it took a lot of the fun out of it.