Hi All,
This is my favorite website, always something new going on and lots of great advice. The DS'ers are a very nice community indeed.
My daughter and I went out yesterday on Austin Lake near Kalamazoo, Michigan. I live about 10 minutes away and trailer launch. This year has been a good one for sailing and me, I have been near 20 times I think. Quite different from the 2 previous years, not that they were bad..., it is just very nice to have better skills and in turn better control of the boat.
After moving back to Michigan after 25 years away, I started looking for a small boat to start sailing. I was really thinking Sunfish or the like, I hadn't sailed since the late 70's, was not skilled then, but just new that I enjoyed it very much. Back then I sailed some old wood boats at camp or would rent a Hobie at the Holiday Inn. I didn't know anyone that sailed then so I really didn't have a clue. I did have to get towed back in off of Grand Traverse Bay when a storm blew in very fast, and I was in trouble.
Well, three years ago, a fellow from work that was aware I was looking, told me he had elderly neighbors with a sailboat they didn't want. Of course I said I'd take it. It was a DSII on its side in the reeds next to a local lake. I dug the mast and boom out of the swamp, rolled the boat onto its bottom, and we pulled the boat out with a tractor. They had a trailer too, not in very good shape and flat tires. No sails. I was off to the tire store which was just closing, but they got the tires inflated. I was back to take my new boat home. There was a 30 lb thrust electric motor pulled out of the garage too. We were able to pull the boat onto the trailer with the tractor and I brought my treasure, the surprise, home to my lovely dispositioned wife. "What did you bring that home for?" This occurred in May, and my plan was to take it sailing in lake Leelanau on the 4th of July.
The resources of this site are amazing. I purchased a used main and jib from member (#2662). I contacted Rudy at DR and purchased a new CB pivot bolt and gaskets. I scraped a bunch of housepaint off the transom, and glassed and bondo'd the hull where it needed it most. I filled and repaired the rudder and centerboard, they had split from freezing. I ordered a new tiller. My biggest repair was using 3M adhesive to reattach the hull to the deck. It was separated a good part of the way around. There was also a lot of mold and such that needed to be cleaned out, as well as bee's nests. The masts had corroded a bit from being in the swamp but I sanded it and cleaned the bolt rope channels out the best I could. I bought a spare for the trailer, rewired it, and replaced and packed the wheel bearings. I did make it out on the 4th for my maiden voyage. Of course my girls were very excited, and my wife was skeptical (jealous maybe?). Wow, I had a difficult time at first. I couldn't seem to get the sail to go all the way up the mast, the halyards sucked, and it was just a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I would have either way to much lee or weather helm. The weather didn't cooperate much either, it was either on a tear or dead calm.
I did make it through the first season and went back to reading about sailing during the winter.
Season 2: All educated now..., First sail. Memorial Day weekend I get my two daughters and niece in the boat (again Lake Leelanau), family and friends are interested and at the launch. Fair amount of wind, but I am confident. I push out from the launch, and the wind just screams. Whitecaps like crazy. The boat is not setup correctly, the sail is not high enough in the mast, leaving the boom so low that the mainsheet block is all the way up in back where it connects to the rope traveler. The sheet is thick at that end and stuck with the sail fully sheeted in. The boat wants to go over. I cannot turn around. I cannot leave the tiller, the kids are freakin, and so am I (many prayers). I turn into wind, stall it, bear off until boat heels (which happens in short order) and repeat the process over and over until I get the mile + to the opposite shore were I jump out and tie off to a tree. I have not yet mentioned that the boat would almost certainly sink if it went over as the previous owner had drilled holes under the seats from the cuddy, and into the bow compartment. Oh yeah..., that was on my mind going across the lake. I fixed the rigging and got the kids back and was not too happy with myself. I felt like a jackass
The rest of the season was uneventful except for when I coaxed my 75 year old dad into the boat and had an accidental jibe. Big heel, the old man can scramble. Thank God again, the boat didn't go over. Several more times sailing that year, but I will say I never completely got over the anxiety from the first sail with the kids. Michigan winter. I join a beer league for ski racing, and read more books about sailing. The shaped skis are great by the way..., my first year on them.
After much reading of the Daysailer forum, I decide before this year, I will not sail unless I have reef points installed. This I did. Thank you Blufton Sails in Muskegon. I have reefed just using short lengths of rope a couple of times. I have have done the same to use the cunningham to flatten out the sails. Many good times of sailing this year. I bought a gas motor, but haven't taken it out. I plugged up the holes into the bow from the cuddy, but haven't fixed the holes under the seat yet. I will not go out on Lake Michigan until I do. The trailer needs paint and new bunk boards badly. I would like to buy a boom vang but the money is tight. Sailing is much cheaper than skiing by the way, my annual DNR launch access is the same price as one lift ticket, and I can carry the beer in the boat.
Well, it was great yesterday, my 15 year old went with me, winds 12 - 18, we beat a Flying Scot up the lake, many good jibes and tacks, took a little water over the coaming, but stayed upright. Good beer. Oberon, a locally brewed wonder drink. Oh yeah... I realized this year, that the spare I bought two years ago is a 5 bolt, and my trailer is 4.
I hope you all are having as much fun this year as I am.
Fair winds,
John