[Rhodes22-list] First Time Out

[Brad Haslett]

Michael,

First, I am not a sailor, I am a sailboat owner.  Rummy and Wally and a
gazillion others can answer your questions as sailors better, but,
mechanical problems with mechanical devices are the given.  Without getting
into the specific mechanical issues of your problems, the first thing you
need to learn is how to eliminate that "big ass wing" in the breeze when all
you want to do is just want to motor home. Read enough sailing books and
you'll hear a tale or two about who was running the boat - nature or me.
Chalk your experience up to "learning" and some old heads on the list will
decipher your specific mechanical and sail plan issues.  Anytime you learn a
new skill it is intimidating in the initial phases, otherwise it wouldn't be
worth learning!

Brad

On Sun, Jun 29, 2008 at 9:08 PM, MichaelT <mticse at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hello All,
>
> After working on the boat for the past several weeks and taking down the
> mast for the 1st time to add a new pop-top slider, windex and pre-wiring
> for
> a vhf I was finally set to go. Replaced my first impeller on the 20 year
> old
> yamaha 8hp, hiking stick w/ coaming box, all the wiring/lights tested and
> operable as the former owner never had a battery installed. And a solar
> panel from GB to boot.
>
> So I went out for the first time for the season yesterday this being my
> first boat, first season. Everything was going swell. Wind was 5-10 mph. 2
> hours later the wind picked up a notch and still all was well. When it was
> time to go home, we lost our bearing and realized we were downwind and
> started to beat the wind. The boat started to heel and heel a lot. So much
> we the jib started touching the water and scooping water from the gunnels.
>
> The wind picked up even more and this when the problem started. I decided
> that it would be best to take down the sails and just motor in. We tried to
> head the boat into the wind and couldn't. Boat still heeling. We let out
> the
> sheets to steady the boat. Tried to furl the jib in. Furling jib is
> stuck.What to do? While the boat was heeling, wind is now 20+, I go forward
> to check the furling unit and noticed that there was hardly any line in the
> spool. I had to hand wind the sail itself and was able to roll in about
> 2/3's of the jib. The 3rd still flapping. I grabbed the boom, lifted the
> topping lift, released the outhaul which just flew away and pulled hard on
> the main sail furling line and thank goodness the main sail furled in.
> Motor
> down, motor started and we now were heading into the wind motoring, the jib
> still flapping. I noticed that my mast stay turnbuckles on the starboard
> side was being turned loose from the flapping jib. Turnbuckles was
> reinstalled w/o cotter pins by our marina guy. Which way to tighen? Counter
> clockwise ok. Settled down the jib on the mast stays. Swells were building
> up and we would hear the motor wining when it caught air.
>
> As we started heading into our channel at Cedar Creek, our point of sail
> was
> now a beam reach and the 1/3 of our jib sail started to heel us over and
> now
> the motor was all air wining. Placed the motor in neutral while we sailed
> and instructed my partner to throttle the motor when the boat flattened. We
> finally made it into our marina, in our slip without fanfare as the marina
> was sheltered form the winds in the Barnegat. It started raining cats and
> dogs the moment we were gathering our things to pack up. Secured the dock
> lines, lifted the motor and rudder off the water. We just left the boat amd
> went home.
>
> What do I do now? I might have broken the furling jib when I physicaly hand
> wound the whole unit. Where do I even start to figure out why there wasn't
> any line in the spool. Is it possible when the mast was taken down that it
> may have gotten unwound? How do i get the furling jib back in order? Other
> questions linger...Why couldn't we head into the wind? Center board was
> down. We're we just having fun heeling and seeing the jib touch water or
> were we already in danger?
>
> Thanks for listening and appreciate your input...
>
> Michael
> Rhodes 87', Silverside
>
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