07-18-2006, 08:18 PM
My brother and I went out today to sail Fat-Cat around the lake. It was a great morning nice calm weather with a slow and steady breeze. We set out at about 10:30 and arrived just after 11:00. For whatever reason the wind had really picked up, (around 35mph+) and we had a bit of a time rigging the boat.
{Images are clickable}
My brother with Fat-Cat
<a href="http://byyb.org/cpg143/albums/userpics/10041/DSCF2550.JPG" target="_blank">![[Image: normal_DSCF2550.JPG]](http://byyb.org/cpg143/albums/userpics/10041/normal_DSCF2550.JPG)
</a>
Although the wind was really wipping I was determined to take my brother out as he had never been out on my boat. So we setup and shoved off.
My Brother again with Fat-Cat
<a href="http://byyb.org/cpg143/albums/userpics/10041/DSCF2553.JPG" target="_blank">![[Image: normal_DSCF2553.JPG]](http://byyb.org/cpg143/albums/userpics/10041/normal_DSCF2553.JPG)
</a>
We were sailing just fine and at quite a pace, both my brother and I were having a great time and enjoyed the speed we were getting in the gale force winds. Everything was going great until we tried tacking in the strong winds and kept stalling and eventually ended up being pushed into a weed bed. No problem, We hopped off in the shallow water and shoved off again. I decided it may be better if we lower the main and manually turn the boat to the starboard tack and carry on. that's were things turned a bit ugly. When I lowered the main in the strong winds we ended up breaking several battens........Not good. I then decided we should head to the public beach a short distance away and have a look. By this time I'm sure the winds had picked up to near 50mph. It was brutal. Once we hit the baech we dropped the sails and beached the boat. There was likely no chance of being able to sail against that wind and return to the boat launch. Especially with the main in it's condition.
At that point several onlookers came by to check out the boat and discuss it's construction, and of course ask about the plans and why I would ever want to build a boat.
After some discussion I asked if a couple of them could assist us in lowering the mast in the gale as it was difficult enough for the two of us in the "Calmer" winds.
They obliged and we got the boat taken down. My brother and I walked back to the boat launch a few miles away and brought the trailer around and had the same few people assist us in carrying Fat-Cat from the beach to the parking lot where the trailer was.
All in all my brother was quite excited as was I. It was a fun sail even though it was short. The old Mini-Cat really proved her strength today.
I can't say I will ever sail her in the same conditions again, but it did teach me a few things.
Number one: Next sail I make will be better re-enforced.
Number two: Sail in conditions adequite for the boats capablities (& the skippers)
Number three: She's well built and can take more stress than I originally thought she could. (although I don't know that I want to put her in that situation again)
All in all it was an eventful day and we both had fun, but most importantly no one got hurt and even though we were in a bit of trouble we managed to recover the boat under jib sail alone to get her back to the beach and get her home.
Time to fix a couple of things and hopefully get back out on the water this Thursday. (Weather permitting)
{Images are clickable}
My brother with Fat-Cat
<a href="http://byyb.org/cpg143/albums/userpics/10041/DSCF2550.JPG" target="_blank">
</a>Although the wind was really wipping I was determined to take my brother out as he had never been out on my boat. So we setup and shoved off.
My Brother again with Fat-Cat
<a href="http://byyb.org/cpg143/albums/userpics/10041/DSCF2553.JPG" target="_blank">
</a>We were sailing just fine and at quite a pace, both my brother and I were having a great time and enjoyed the speed we were getting in the gale force winds. Everything was going great until we tried tacking in the strong winds and kept stalling and eventually ended up being pushed into a weed bed. No problem, We hopped off in the shallow water and shoved off again. I decided it may be better if we lower the main and manually turn the boat to the starboard tack and carry on. that's were things turned a bit ugly. When I lowered the main in the strong winds we ended up breaking several battens........Not good. I then decided we should head to the public beach a short distance away and have a look. By this time I'm sure the winds had picked up to near 50mph. It was brutal. Once we hit the baech we dropped the sails and beached the boat. There was likely no chance of being able to sail against that wind and return to the boat launch. Especially with the main in it's condition.
At that point several onlookers came by to check out the boat and discuss it's construction, and of course ask about the plans and why I would ever want to build a boat.
After some discussion I asked if a couple of them could assist us in lowering the mast in the gale as it was difficult enough for the two of us in the "Calmer" winds.
They obliged and we got the boat taken down. My brother and I walked back to the boat launch a few miles away and brought the trailer around and had the same few people assist us in carrying Fat-Cat from the beach to the parking lot where the trailer was.
All in all my brother was quite excited as was I. It was a fun sail even though it was short. The old Mini-Cat really proved her strength today.
I can't say I will ever sail her in the same conditions again, but it did teach me a few things.
Number one: Next sail I make will be better re-enforced.
Number two: Sail in conditions adequite for the boats capablities (& the skippers)
Number three: She's well built and can take more stress than I originally thought she could. (although I don't know that I want to put her in that situation again)
All in all it was an eventful day and we both had fun, but most importantly no one got hurt and even though we were in a bit of trouble we managed to recover the boat under jib sail alone to get her back to the beach and get her home.
Time to fix a couple of things and hopefully get back out on the water this Thursday. (Weather permitting)