Well, I squeezed in one last outing to test out the changes I made to the mast and rake. It was a little chilly, about 55 when I left home and about 62 when I hit the water. This time, I put in at the Coast Guard boat ramp, which was a much nicer place. Plenty of room, docks to tie up on. The only drawback is a very tight mouth to sail in and out of.
Winds were from the NNW, about 8 - 9 knots when I launched. Everything went smoothly. The new topping lift is awesome, and the new outhaul was a cinch to use. Since the winds were from the North, I sailed south to get out of the breakwater. The boat really moved along. As soon as I launched, I trimmed the sails for a broad-reach, and dashed down the waterfront and through the mooring field. I am sure it looked a lot more professional than the last time I was there.
The new soft shackle worked perfectly. Just using an eye splice and a lanyard knot held just fine. I love it. I decided to try to sail across to New York again. I picked a spot on the far shore and headed towards it. The wind wandered back and forth from NW to NNW. They stayed strong and the boat handled like a dream. The new mast rake must be just about right. It had just the right about of weather-helm. I think at this point the winds must have been closer to ten knots, because there was just barely a little bit of chop. However, it wasn't enough to cause the boat to pitch at all, so we just cut along at a pretty good pace.
As I got close to the New York shore, the winds started to die. I was still gliding along, but the wind seemed to shift to the NNE, which meant I was going to tack back across, just as I had tacked over. I had left the breakwater at about 12:23. By 1:50, I was about a half mile off-shore from Port Douglas. That's about 8.5 miles covered at 1 and a half hours. That works out to about 4 and a half knots. I'd venture when the wind was stronger, I was probably going about 6 knots. Since the wind was dying, I decided to turn around, again failing to reach the New York shore. However, to be honest, I was sailing the absolute widest part of the lake.