Weather Helm

Though the skies were overcast and at times downright threatening, we met the SE gusts of up to 18mph with a stiffly reefed mainsail, pushing the Springtide up to 6 knots as we flew back from Gooseberry Island; a decent speed in a vessel her size. Had the family leaning over the weather gunwale to reduce heeling.

Spotted several mergansers and a loon.

Finally Out

Went to launch the boat when the docks opened May 1st. While there were spots of sun throughout the day, it rained torrents while we were launching, and I took shelter in the cabin while everyone else ran back to the truck. Good news is that there aren't any leaks this year.

Got the boat in the water, and it wouldn't come off the trailer. Drove the truck deeper in, still ntohing. Exhaust pipe now in the water, and the boat's still not budging. Pulled it up on to dry land, and on a hunch loosened the swinging keel up with a rubber mallet and tightened the pendant. Sure enough, we were able to pull it up a few more inches -- just enough to swing the boat off the trailer and into the lake.

Where it sat for a week due to extremely cold, damp, and windy (20-30mph) conditions.



Last Saturday around 4 PM, we took it out for its first three-hour tour around the lake. Gusty winds at around 11mph from the NNW made it easy to swing around the Western edge of Gooseberry Island. As we were nearly at a run, the wind seemed to fade, and as the sun peeked out from the clouds, it was almost tolerable.

I took the tiller as we rounded the Eastern edge of Gooseberry, and made a pretty easy close-reached course for the NE shore. It's when we turned back that things got dicey. Clouds rolled in, the wind (now set against us) stirred up whitecaps, and the advent of evening, the temperatures dipped down into the lower 40's. The wind kept swirling from NNW to something more like North, taking the Springtide firmly by the head whenever they did.

Tacking was nearly impossible with the jib up (in retrospect we should have dropped it and raised the centerboard six inches to shift the center of gravity), and whenever we settled on a nice, somewhat comfortable close-haulled course, a stray gust would grab the jib and swing the Springtide about by her head. As the rocky wall of Gooseberry to our lee didn't looked uninviting, we wore twice back to the NE; the opposite direction of the harbor. After taking a zigzag course for around an hour and making very little progress, we finally had to drop sails and run back in under motor power with our spanker between our legs.

Sunday was by far more pleasant. While temperatures hadn't improved much (it had just snowed Friday night), the wind was coming from the SE at about 5 mph and the sun was out, making for a far easier, more pleasant sail. As we were planning on heading back to the cities, we only made a run out to the middle of Gooseberry Island, and then back into the harbor.

Lessons learned:

• Swinging keels provide you the flexibility to traverse shallower waters, while minimizing leeway. That said, when going backwards, the keel has the tendency to jam into objects unless totally stowed, and the pendant has a penchant for jamming at the most innoportune times.
• When running close-hauled under gusty, variable winds, consider dropping the jib and refocusing the center of gravity either by drawing in the swinging keel or having crew shift to weather.
  

Wildlife spotted:

• Great Blue Heron
• Loon
• Sea Gull
• Tern