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| Rigging sail at the boat launch. |
Location: Lat. N 43º 12' Long. W72º 28'
Weather: Mostly sunny with highs in the 80's. Wind N at 10mph. No severe weather predicted.
Chart: nonexistent, but have some prior knowledge of area [ie. avoid cattails -- shallow water]
Current: flowing south [down river]
Armed with my new sailing knowledge [I spent last week at Wooden Boat School's seamanship course], I loaded the car for my first solo trip in the "Seaturtle". After making sure I had the oars and my lifejacket, I packed in the rudder, tiller extension, daggerboard and sails, hitched the trailer, and headed for the Connecticut River. Fortunately, winds were light and I rigged the boat at the launch ramp while I was still on dry land. Sadly, I still need my cheat sheet for knots, but finally had everything set up. After several false starts, I managed to avoid the dock and get the boat into the water. When will I ever master the art of backing up the trailer? Probably right after I master making turns without running it over the curb.
Because the boat ramp is in a sheltered spot, I had to row a few feet to get out into the main part of the river. I managed to do that without running aground on the cattails, and I put down the daggerboard. The sails filled with wind and I left Vermont for New Hampshire. Then I was immediately confronted with the problem of how to hold everything and stay on course. The jib on the dory does not come across by itself; it has two sheets instead of one to pull it across by hand. And of course I also had the mainsheet. In the other hand I had the tiller extension. The dory uses a push-pull system to control the rudder. The advantage is that I didn't have the move the tiller behind my back; it was always at my right side. The disadvantage was that it was not immediately apparent whether to push or pull it, and the New Hampshire shore was rapidly approaching.
After a little trial and error, I made ready to come about, pushed the tiller hard over, did a little juggling act with the sheets and was on a successful tack back to Vermont. I caught a nice puff of wind, the boat heeled up a bit, and in about three minutes, I did the whole procedure again to avoid running aground. I gradually realized that I didn't need to hold both jib sheets; I only needed the leeward one to control it. With the current against me and fickle winds, I didn't make much progress. I probably only went a couple hundred yards up the river but I got lot of practice coming about. I even did a a few jibes, but was concerned about dropping too far down river to do them very often.
After a couple hours of tacking (where else could you sail and visit a different state on each tack), I headed back. I'm pleased to report that I sailed right up to the dock, pulled up the dagger board and tied up the boat completely without incident. I felt like a pro.
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| Ready to get underway. |
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| Finally under sail! |
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| Catching a breeze. |
