Hi All
Well I got my boat in the water last week. It isn't pretty or done but it works!
Anyway I drove to Lac La Biche with it on my trailer
We set up the boat on the beach in a little cove behind a point. The wind was coming off the beach. Christened the boat and was about to push it in when my uncle and aunt surprised me with a captains hat... Anyway after that was done into the water it went.
We sailed off the shore and once past the point were able to make good speed on all points of sail. There was a storm coming across the lake so we decided to head back to the beach but when we came behind the point our wind died and we were unable to make the last 50 feet to the beach under sail against the wind. Once we were behind the point the jib would push our bow around and the best we could do was sail 90 degrees to the wind with the rudder all the way over.
You can see the wind die on the picture below... the water in behind the beach is calm but the water outside of the point has ripples on it.
We would end up trying for another pass...
Then the storm blew in and got really wet and cold... but the boat performed excellent. The gusts caused us to heel over and we had to lean out to counter act it. We able to make the beach with ease once the wind came up. If we had been wearing rain suits we would have stayed out in the water.
I took my wife out a few days later once the weather was beautiful but the wind relatively weak and died once we were 0.5 miles off the whore. So we paddled in. The boat moved with ease under paddle and we made it back in no time.
This is me:
And my wife:
Two days ago there was a lot of wind and we tried to launch the boat into the wind but were unable to get far enough from shore to get the daggerboard down, the sails up and ourselves in the boat before we were grounding again... need a little motor.
I still plan on quickfairing the cockpit, painting the interior and putting the second coat on the exterior. I also am going to add a rope rail to lean against in the cockpit to allow for more comfort and will also use a bit of foam to sit on. Functionally the boat works now I want to get some creature comforts, egronomic and visual issues/improvements added. I also have to drill a bunch of holes to allow drainage from under the seats and from one frame section to another.
This has been a really rewarding experience and I want to thank all of you for your help and Jacques putting together a complete package (which includes this forum).
I am already eyeing the VG- series... I think I caught the bug.
