BYYB Forums

Thanks for all of your help here on the BYYB forum. You folks gave me lots of ideas and were a confidence boost when I was feeling unable to do certain parts of the project.

I really enjoyed building my boat and I'm almost sad that the building part is done. I still have some things I want to add to my boat but they're minor.

It was all worth it today when I put it in the water. The plan was to fish in the morning till the wind picked up and then run it around and see how everything worked.

We got to the spot I picked out about 6am, just as the sun was coming up. I picked out a wide spot of the ICW very near my house in Ormond Beach. Setting up the mast in the parkinglot went without issue and was done in under 15 mins.

The boat slid off the trailer very easy, it's a one man job if you give the bowline a litle slack and tie it off to the winch stump.

We looked it all over for any leaks and made sure it was sitting level in the water. Even with the two batteries in the forepeak and the large mushroom/graple combo anchor I brought the bow did not sit down, I was worried that it would look like it was bow heavy when empty but it sat well in the water.

We tied the boom to the gaff and used the peak halyard to hoist the boom our of our way and it was off to the other side of the ICW to catch some bait for fishing. The shrimp are just days away from their run to the ocean and we quickly had a live well full of shrimp and mullet.

We fished the grassy banks for a couple hours as cars all slowed to look at the people fishing from a sailboat. Everyone gives the boat a long look, We felt like zoo exhibits fishing next to the road so we decided to put the sails up and see if we could make it move in the very light morning winds (plus the fish were not biting)

In very light winds we sailed under the bridge and set up for some piling fishing and my buddy Kip caught the first fish in the new boat.

After a while of that, and several small fish the wind picked up enough to make us want to try the sails out again..

IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! I was amazed how easy it was to sail the boat. I expected the actual sailing part to be much harder than it was. I've got a lot of fine tuning to do on the whole process but I was able to sail the boat to any place we picked out as a destination.

I wanted to spend the whole day out there going back and forth and round the ICW but Kip had to get home to do some work so I dropped him off and tiik it out by myself so he could take a couple of photos of the boat under sail.

In my excitement I didn't get the peak up at first It sailed along without it properly adjusted but I eventually noticed that and put it up so that a proper photo could be taken.



Here is a link to my flickr photoset with more photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flhippy

Thanks again for your help, advice, and putting up with me when I get mouthy.

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Congratulations! Looks like a great boat and a very happy skipper...

Glad to see you got her launched. There's nothing like building a boat and launching it for the first time. Congrats and I hope to someday see it sailing with the SE Fleet

Keith

Ahoy David,

Nothing makes a weekend go better than launching a Weekender you built with your own hands. Congratulations! Keep us posted on those adventures that lie just off the horizon, won't you?

Hey Dave, Red's Betty sails REAL NICE 8) . Well done skipper, glad to see somone else that mixes two great activities together, fishing & sailing. Excellent photo journal of your build.

Greg

Way to go big guy . . . Feels good don't it. Be proud, she looks fantastic. Now arm that vessel with a proper canon or two. It makes fishing a lot easier, especially if you use the right ammo . . .

Congratulations on Your launch Captan David, great photos, it must feel Great to finally launch Reds Betty, like Jim said keep sendin photos of your adventures.
Brian.