Not quite a Master Class in sailing....

On Sunday I launched The Lady Caroline.

I had the assistance of Ben, and the patience of his whole family who came along to join us.

The boat floated, upright, and no-one drowned.

We even got to the stage where we were confident enough to bring his kids for a spin around the estuary with the sails down, just running the outboard.

Before much more ado, A HUGE Thanks to Ben and Family. Ben and Sarah's patience when they got a lot more than he bargained for was nothing short of astounding.

We did make some pretty good decisions, which resulted in my poor decisions not getting out of hand.

• We launched in a sheltered estuary.
• We brought an anchor, chain, and rope
• We had an outboard.

We also learned

• It took a LOT longer to setup and tear down than I expected.
• Gravel makes a bad launch place for a sailboat with a swinging centreboard.
• When the CB is stuck up because it's jammed with gravel, you cannot sail upwind, in fact, you cannot even turn upwind, you have no pivot point.
• Leaving a hole in the CB case cover so that you can push down the CB is a good plan
• Forgetting to bring a long thin stick to push down the CB is not.
• An outboard helps when you can't sail
• Too much choke is as bad as too little.
• An anchor allows you to STOP and think and fix things without panic.
• The concrete wall long beside the slip continues underwater a lot further than you'd think.
• Old fashioned boats without a plumb bow tend to ride up on underwater concrete walls without too much damage.
• Self-bailers are no good if you can't reach them without lifting the floorboards.

The suzi 2.5hp was more than enough power, but the movable bracket is set too low, so part of the bracket drags in the water. Not a big deal, but annoying, I need to sort that.

We did get a little sailing done, a broad reach with the mainsail reefed.

All in all, a success, but I need a LOT of practice sailing.

Video Clips will follow once I get them edited & uploaded.

Dave