Solo Sail on the Connecticut River

Rigging sail at the boat launch.

Captain's log   July 5, 2012

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.

Ready to get underway.

Finally under sail!

Catching a breeze.