Monday, April 2, 2007

Bye-Bye York St and Surprise "Sea Trials"


Finally, after almost five months of prep, repair and restoration it was time for the Lockley to leave the yard on York St. and head to her storage facility closer to her summer retreat. We decided on this week for several reasons: the weather was beautiful; the grass in our small yard needed the sunlight and I had access to Chris' Grand Cherokee. Becuase the weather was beautiful (80+ degrees in March) and we had the afternoon of we decided to also taker her out for her first sail in almost 18 years (she was last registered in 1990). This would be a chance to not only to see how we did on our improvements but to also see if anything was missing or needed to be improved.

I fastened her down to her trailer and packed all of our gear while Kirsten packed us lunch. I then pushed the boat into position and then removed the cumbersome fence panel that had allowed us to put her inside the yard. With some pulling and pushing we got her out of the yard and lined her up with the tow hitch. I then replaced the fence panel and packed the car. Soon we were off!

Her place to sail this summer will be Cowan Lake State Park, about an hour and fifteen minutes from the house. However, we decided to take her to East Fork Lake today since it was not only closer to our home but closer to our storage place. The boat only took about 30 minutes to prep. We then started the descent down the ramp towards the lake. Unfortunately the trailer tongue is bent which made the launch a bit tricky. But soon we were in. Our small outboard has a leaking fuel valve so we decided to go using oar and wind power to get us in/out of dock.

Keep in mind that the weather was a very balmy 83 degrees, but the water was no warmer that 50 degrees so capsizing in the gusts was not an option. The winds were relatively moderate (maybe 15-20 knots), but inconsistent. However, when the wind was blowing the boat sailed wonderfully! Kirsten was a little weary (her prior sailing experience was aboard a 42' Catalina), but seemed to get comfortable once we were out. Her winward performace was excellent, and beam reaches were a blast (one we were at a 20+ degree heel)!

It was so awesome to be out sailing this early in the season, however our time was limited by the fact that we both had class that evening. We then headed to the ramp. However by this time the wind had shifted, requiring us to beat into the wind back to the ramp via a narrow canal. It was going well until the wind died completely. Without our motor we were forced to paddle back into the ramp, which took a bit of time. Retreval was also a bit tricky without our outboard, but soon we were back on and up on land.

Here's a detail map of the area we sailed in. East Fork (unlike Cowan) is unlimited horsepower, and with Larry The Cable Guy's cousins hauling ass in their bass boats I felt it best to stick to the small coves. Back on dry land, we took the boat to its new home at the storage place, where she lies in wait for her next sail.

From this sail I learned a few things:
1- The boat is surprisingly (no pun intended) stable. At no time did I feel like the boat could capsize
2- The trailer, while functional, may be replaced if I hang onto her
3- This boat would be VERY easy to singlehand
4- I'm not sure if I like the new bunk on the boat. Because of the way it changed how the boat sits on the trailer it feels like I'm close to drowning the tow vehicle during launch. I may go back to my original plan
5- I chose to launch from the spillway ramp because it is the less crowded of the two, which I now understand why: there are no docks, and is surrounded by large rocks on the nearby shore. If I launch at East Fork again I will use the other ramp

As Easter approaches we are about to go from highs in the 70s to highs in the 40s, so it looks like no sailing for a few weeks. See you on the flip side!

PS- Sorry for the lack of photos. I was a little paranoid about losing my digital camera so I was a little camera-shy. I promise to buy a waterproof disposeable for our next trip!

2 comments:

Zombi said...

Congrats on your new boat!
It looks to me like you're in for quite a bit of fun and high adventure.
Thanks for sending me the site (via my blog and Shorty Pen's). It looks to me like the only way to find these blogs is by freferral from someone, search engines have been mostly useless to me.
I'll check back later in the season to see how the sailing goes for you.
You may be interested in "The Oar Club" for some interesting ideas about sailing. I enjoy their bulliten board at :

sailsurprise.blogspot.com

Thanks again!!! Z

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.