Saturday, August 23rd, a somewhat spontaneous outing with several members of the breakfast crew (or the "land locked yacht club", as I think Mike & Mark have referred to it. Having a boat in the water makes me an associate member). Bruce said he was going out sailing today, and since he's actually leaving for his WORLD ADVENTURES in the next week, there wasn't going to be another opportunity. Well, maybe on Sunday also, but that wasn't the point. He's going to single-hand it (yikes!!!). Alberto may join him for a bit of it.
The 29' Cascade was very interesting. He named it Ruby - she just got lettered today, in brilliant, sparkling red letters. I have pictures! Because guys never get enough photographs, though Mike did take a few too! She was purchased from the sea scouts (who had it as a donated boat) and had rotted wood and even some mushrooms growing on the inside! You wouldn't know it to look at her now. New wood, new engine, new upholstery (no longer that lovely 1974 plaid). Inside she has a dinette that converts to a bed, head, galley, two quarter berths. The general layout is otherwise relatively similar, except my galley slides. A bit more headroom and space - I'll have to ask what a 29's beam is - it felt wider.
It was interesting comparing how Bruce's boat tracked compared with mine. I did feel as though I had to move the a bit tiller more / adjust more. Normal jib, normal winches. We did get to tack back & forth a bit, so there was some practice there. I steered for a little while, but I rather enjoyed being able to sit back for a change and not have to pay quite as much attention. We had the main reefed - apparently they set that up before I got there, because it's much easier to un-reef it when you're out on the water, than to reef it when the wind is high. That makes sense. And even so, we rounded up a few times - the wind was on the stronger side.
I'm rather tempted by this for my boat bottom: putting "eeeEEEEEEeee" on the bottom, below the water line, to be exposed when the boat heels, would be just brilliant!
My sock yarn is going to participate in these travels - Bruce needed some tell-tales on his rigging, and I (surprise, surprise) came up with the yarn. Luckily, I was able to find the center pull end after pulling out a little clump - worked out perfectly becuase I was able to leave him with a little bit as a spare. How many boats out there have hand-dyed superwash yarn as their tell-tales, I ask you? Not many!!
LESSON: Need to learn to reef the sail and plan to do it in advance to be ready for higher winds.
LESSON: You never know when yarn is going to be useful :-)
The crew (a couple photos) and Ruby!
Note, my sock yarn is in the photo, too, right in front of Bruce's face:
Mark messed around with the pole when we were wing on wing:
And of course, the most adorable ducklings!
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