"...and best of all, the fuel was free!"

Ahhh... another fine spring day in Cincinnati.. and what better way to celebrate Earth Day then an engineless sail! My good friend Chris (who has been kind enough to help me with just about EVERYTHING on this boat) joined me for what was to be his first sailing experience. Since we were pressed for time we decided to head back to East Fork lake (to my friends at Cowan I promise I'll see you soon). I was a bit weary because there were only hints of a breeze when I left my house, but thought we'd be able to at least some sailing in. Besides, with forecasted water temps being in the low 50s I wasn't in the mood for a capsize!

We go to East Fork at noon, and decided to tempt fate by launching from the same ramp that I swore I wouldn't launch from again. After prepping and an interesting launch experience we were in the water. Chris went to park the car as I sailed in circles near the ramp under jib power only. While we had the same problem as before (wind blowing away from the ramp-meaning that we'd have to beat back to the ramp), I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the winds were much heavier than expected! I picked Chris up at the ramp and we were on our way!

With the winds pushing us at an estimated speed of 7-8 knots we decided to be bold and head out into open water, aka powerboat territory! Now East Fork is notorious for idiot powerboaters, but I must say that today everyone (including PWC drivers) were respectful and kept away. Maybe it was the novelty of a sailboat that kept many spectators in awe! We saw several people pointing from shore and their boats, and I also think I saw someone with a camera at the beach snapping photos.

Now I have been a little curious as to why in the period of 10 years I had only seen one other sailboat on the lake ( a Hobie 18 in 1997). I chalked it up to East Fork's powerboat reputation (and the lack of dock spaces). However on this trip I had discovered why. In between the lakes' 2 main launch ramps is a penninsula containing the swimming beach. This land apparently created a riff in the wind and caused it to bend around it and blow away from the second ramp as well (this ramp and ours were on opposite sides of the lake). So after a few bumps on the head from unexpected powergybes we realized what was happening and adjusted our sails accordingly. Now this wouldn't have been a problem, however the strange wind phenominon also created a "dead zone" at the center of the lake. When we hit it our sails fell flat and we stopped moving... at ground zero of powerboat traffic! We did finally manage to catch some small breezes from one direction. However, as we left one area of the lake we didn't have the momentum to get us over to the "second" wind source! After several tacks and gybes we finally caught our original wind and had a great sail!

We had to be off the water by 4 so we started the beating journey back to our launch site. The wind jumped to about 15-20 knots and we began to pick up speed (as well as a nice heel)! We came about for our first tack when suddenly CRACK!!! My tiller broke at its bolt on the rudder and suddenly we had no steering. Chris became nervous as we continued to heel and circle around. I released the mainsheet and we came to a rest. I grabbed the rudder box and tried to gain control of our direction, but it wasn't working very well.

This was about the time I wish I'd brought my outboard.

Suddenly I had an idea. I took the broken tiller and wedged it back into place underneath its bolt and on the transom, and with some downward pressure I was able to gain control of the helm! I pulled in the mainsheet and off we went. As we sailed, I quoted one of Quint's lines from JAWS: "We're going in, Brody!" I responded to myself with Brody's line, "Thank Christ."


After about 15 minutes of tacking up the cove we were lined up with our ramp, along with several bass fisherman calling it a day. Fortunately because the wind was a bit stronger than our last trip we were able to sail right onto the ramp (although, admittedly a little faster than I intended). We were back on dry land. I stayed with the boat as Chris ran up to fetch the trailer. I stood in freezing cold water, preventing the boat from sailing away or hitting other boats. Soon he was back and with a few turns of the winch we were back on the trailer.

As we began prepping the boat for its trip back to the storage facility I added some mental notes on what I needed before I ventured out again. First, and foremost a new tiller! Secondly, I need to come up with a way to secure some fenders to the boat during docking and launching. I also need to invest in a couple of nice dock lines.

Overall I felt good about this sail. I was a bit timid of opening up the boat to its full potential (namely because of the cold water). However, I did feel a bit bad about our close calls and hair-rasing experiences with it being Chris' first sailing experience (Chris owns a powerboat and is a great skipper). As I began to survey my sunburn I hesitantly asked him what he thought of his 1st sailing experience. He perked up and said "That was awesome! It was cool to move at that speed with no motor sound, and best of all, the fuel was free!"