04-30-2006, 02:58 PM
Yes I launched my weekender Dreamcast 902 for another year.
The boat should be in the shipyard for repairs :x to the keel and missing turnbuckle that shot across the deck from my last sailing adventure, not to mention painting and general cleanup.
But no, three years behind the shipâs wheel and now I need to know how my new tiller will perform. :? Charged up my two batteries for the electric motor attached all my sails back on the boat and I am ready to roll.
6:00 am Sunday morning jump in the truck and find out got no trailer lights! :oops: Bummer, canât fix so itâs the back roads to the lake. Gate was open, paid my fee and I ready to launch. It was a beautiful morning and had the lake to myself. Now being this was the first trip out this year I bought my ladder to get in and out of the boat when getting weekender ready to sail, wow I am bringing the ladder every time no more scrapping my knees on the deck.
I also installed some pulleys to lower and raise the jib from the cockpit, plus my new tiller.
Winds where were light to start but before long the lake had 1-2 ft waves and there where some terrible gust that scared me (water still freezing cold), I lowered the main and sailed with the jib only. I was quite surprises how fast I could go with just the jib.
All was going well sailing with the wind and waves until of course you run out of lake and have to head back into the wind. I turned on the electric motor and at full throttle could barely make headway. Took a while but beated towards the lee of the land and eventually made it across the lake and could turn back up into the wind. About an hour & 1/2 at full throttle and I made it back to a nice protected cove and dropped anchor. Took a break inside the cabin, needed to warm up a bit, wind was cold coming across the lake.
Tiller worked great instant response compared to the ships wheel and you know exactly at what angle the rudder is in the water. Lowering and raising jib from the cockpit work great too, more comfortable than running out on deck when your on your own. During my beat upwind I let my jib sail flap around in the high winds and my club foot took a heavy pounding so much that my spring clip broke and club foot broke away from the sail. During my anchoring rest I remove the club foot all together and attached my jib line directly to the sail and sailed around with no club foot. Seems to me I got better performance with no club foot and no banging around that happens with the club foot, I think I going to leave it off.
Back at dock at the end of the day winds where still pretty high and boat took a pounding against the dock while I ran to get the trailer. All in all it was a great day out on the water.
Tiller in my humble opinion is far superior to the shipâs wheel in sailing performance especially it youâre a novice sailor like myself. But the shipâs wheel 10 to 1 looks a whole lot better.
Bushfire Bob
The boat should be in the shipyard for repairs :x to the keel and missing turnbuckle that shot across the deck from my last sailing adventure, not to mention painting and general cleanup.
But no, three years behind the shipâs wheel and now I need to know how my new tiller will perform. :? Charged up my two batteries for the electric motor attached all my sails back on the boat and I am ready to roll.
6:00 am Sunday morning jump in the truck and find out got no trailer lights! :oops: Bummer, canât fix so itâs the back roads to the lake. Gate was open, paid my fee and I ready to launch. It was a beautiful morning and had the lake to myself. Now being this was the first trip out this year I bought my ladder to get in and out of the boat when getting weekender ready to sail, wow I am bringing the ladder every time no more scrapping my knees on the deck.
I also installed some pulleys to lower and raise the jib from the cockpit, plus my new tiller.
Winds where were light to start but before long the lake had 1-2 ft waves and there where some terrible gust that scared me (water still freezing cold), I lowered the main and sailed with the jib only. I was quite surprises how fast I could go with just the jib.
All was going well sailing with the wind and waves until of course you run out of lake and have to head back into the wind. I turned on the electric motor and at full throttle could barely make headway. Took a while but beated towards the lee of the land and eventually made it across the lake and could turn back up into the wind. About an hour & 1/2 at full throttle and I made it back to a nice protected cove and dropped anchor. Took a break inside the cabin, needed to warm up a bit, wind was cold coming across the lake.
Tiller worked great instant response compared to the ships wheel and you know exactly at what angle the rudder is in the water. Lowering and raising jib from the cockpit work great too, more comfortable than running out on deck when your on your own. During my beat upwind I let my jib sail flap around in the high winds and my club foot took a heavy pounding so much that my spring clip broke and club foot broke away from the sail. During my anchoring rest I remove the club foot all together and attached my jib line directly to the sail and sailed around with no club foot. Seems to me I got better performance with no club foot and no banging around that happens with the club foot, I think I going to leave it off.
Back at dock at the end of the day winds where still pretty high and boat took a pounding against the dock while I ran to get the trailer. All in all it was a great day out on the water.
Tiller in my humble opinion is far superior to the shipâs wheel in sailing performance especially it youâre a novice sailor like myself. But the shipâs wheel 10 to 1 looks a whole lot better.
Bushfire Bob
hock: only thing stopping him is insurance rates $ 4000.00 per year