First splash! Finally in the water with a new C-22.

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shunt1

First splash! Finally in the water with a new C-22.

Post by shunt1 »

SATURDAY, DAY ONE:

We obtained a mooring for the sailboat in front of the restaurant. That alone was rather amazing and beyond our dreams. Also, the price was rather shocking, since the going rate for a mooring is around $2,000 per year, even in Minnesota. A dock would have been almost impossible to obtain.


SUNDAY, DAY TWO:

Sunday, everyone was on vacation and nobody was available to help me get the boat into the water. Raising a 26 foot tall sailboat mast is not exactly easy, but I was going to attempt it all alone. Sue decided to help me raise the mast that morning, since everyone else was gone.

The day that I purchased this sailboat, Sue insisted that we only look at it. We had the new car and the cash in hand, so I fully intended to purchase it, unless there was something seriously wrong. I knew what a fantastic deal this was and we would be stupid to let is slip away.

My wife had a hissy fit and declared: "If you buy this boat today, I swear that I will never get on it!" She was deadly serious, and for the last month, has refused to even look inside of it.

Anyway, Sunday she understood that I was going to raise that mast all by myself, and that got her rather worried. So, only as a helping hand, she decided to come along and insure that I did not kill myself. Now, while getting that mast ready to be raised, she was able to see the inside of this cabin cruiser sailboat. WOW!

We got to the lake at 9:30 in the morning and finally had the mast raised by 11:45, after some rather interesting attempts. On our second attempt, the mast was stuck with only about three inches left to go, and we were both absolutely stumped. Eventually, we found that a cable had snagged on something in the middle of the mast, and once cleared, the rest was easy. Talk about scary, but the two of us worked together and achieved our goals.

Next, it was time to put the boat into the water. At the airport, I have been practicing on how to backup with the trailer, so I told my wife exactly what hand signals to give me. Instead of pointing in which direction the back of the boat should go, she decided to point in what direction I should turn. Looking in the back mirror, while following her directions, I soon realized that I was about to drive onto the dock instead of down into the water! Emergency stop and I pulled forward. It was now time to use my mirrors and ignore her directions, before something got seriously damaged. The boat is now safely in the water, but we still need to get it deep enough to float off the trailer.

Oh, in the process, I learned that the extended trailer tong is required to get the boat deep enough, but the lifting jack wheel (fully retracted) will hit the ground while backing up. Thankfully, our new car is front wheel drive, since this was lifting the back vehicle wheels while backing the boat down into the water. I was wondering why there was such loud racket.

Did you know that it is possible to loosen the bow wench, while backing the boat into the water, so that the strap wraps around the wench and becomes a total knot? My wife figured out how to manage that magical trick! Thankfully, someone else saw what she had achieved and was able to pull the boat back onto the trailer and untangle this knot.

Now, the boat is in the water and the car has been parked. I only need to motor the boat over to the mooring float, snatch the floating line and cleat it to the sailboat's bow. This should be easy! Other than arriving at the mooring float, with nothing attached to it, the rest was rather easy. Thankfully, I was able to snag the ring on the top of the float and get a rope though it. Once everything was secured, I got the boat "ship shape" and waited for my wife to row the dingy out to retrieve me.

Watching from the boat, I could see my wife parking the car and getting the inflatable dingy ready. I only had another ten minutes or so to wait...

Have you ever seen someone trying to row a row-boat while sitting in the back, facing forward, with only their head peeking above the side? Have you ever seen someone flailing around in this impossible position and using two oars like she was in a kayak? 30 minutes later, she finally got close to our sailboat (after pulling up to the wrong one first) and was only 30 feet away. I had a line ready to throw to her, if she could get 10 feet closer. Unfortunately, her arms had finally gave out and she was now drifting downwind towards the center of the lake.

No other choice, so I grabbed a life vest, removed my shoes and glasses, and swam the 100 feet to her. Eventually, I was able to swim both her and the dingy back to the sailboat. Now, my wife gets this brilliant idea that she should get out of the dingy, and I should row us back to shore! 40 minutes later, after dragging dead weight though the water in a dingy, I eventually got us to the shore. End of Day Two, since I could no longer even lift my arms!


LABOR DAY, DAY THREE:

My wife, who absolutely hates this sailboat, now gets me up early in the morning. She is now ready to sail in this darn thing!

This time, I got smart and rowed the dingy to the sailboat in about 5 minutes, and made Sue stay by the dock. Starting the engine and releasing the line from the mooring float, I then motored to the dock. With the keel fully retracted, I was hoping that I could dock the boat, and it worked out perfectly. I even killed the motor at the correct time and drifted until I "kissed" the dock in the perfect position. I was rather proud of myself!

Like a little Princess, Sue stepped onto the sailboat and stowed her numerous luxury items. I then put the engine into reverse, and we were on our way...

Once we were in deep enough water, I had her lower the keel and then haul up the Main sail and cleat it off. Not knowing what she may do, it was much safer for me to keep control of the tiller and main sheet, for rather obvious reasons. However, everything worked out perfectly.

To my amazement, Sue totally relaxed and declared that this was the most enjoyable time she has ever had on the water. Even her dad's fishing boat was scary to her, but this is absolutely wonderful!

The skipper is almost in a panic mode. If he screws this one up in any way, she will never sail with him again!

Have you ever tried to sail with a perfectly even keel? I managed to do that, even if our speed was rather slow. However, fast enough that we were both introduced to that wonderful OOOOOWWWWW whale type sound of the keel cable. We love that special sound.

After one hour of sailing, the skipper is too mentally stressed and has returned to the mooring float. However, the wife has had a fantastic time and never knew that sailing was so peaceful and relaxing.

Rocking back and forth, we both learned that even moored, this is very enjoyable. We then tested out the bedding below decks and ended up taking a three hour nap together. Romantic!

Knowing that a dingy would be a total disaster with her, I then motored the sailboat back to the dock. Little Princess was able to remove her luxury items and I then returned the sailboat back to it's mooring. The rowing back with the dingy was almost trivial.


THIS WEEKEND WAS FANTASTIC!
Mario G

Post by Mario G »

Congrats and I'm happy everything went well. Its funny how the wives act until they are underway.
skyking

Post by skyking »

Mario G wrote:Congrats and I'm happy everything went well. Its funny how the wives act until they are underway.
I will second that :D

Its been 2 months since we first launced & Just now I'M allowed to heel over a few degrees :roll:

We did have a good day on sunday....steady 10 to 12 knt winds. She had no choice but to get used to a little list :lol: I gave her the tiller for a comfort measure and off we went.

SHUNT 1 Glad to hear that you had fun!!!!
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Capt. Bondo
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Post by Capt. Bondo »

Yes, it's just a matter of time before your partner will enjoy sailing as much as we do.
You'll know your on track when she says "what day are we going sailing this weekend?" :o
H:)ppy Place
78 Chrysler 22

You can go to a Zen Master or you can go Sailing, either way you end up in about the same place..... a Happy Place
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CaptainScott
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Post by CaptainScott »

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Glad to hear you got the boat out AND your bride!
Give her time and don't push! She'll come along nicely!
Never heal the boat more than necessary while she is in the getting comfortable stage. There is no need to and you may loose a sailing partner! Trust me, it is more fun to sail with your family than without!!!!

Well, to me it is anyway!!
Again, CONGRATS!
Scott
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Post by FranS »

You may consider getting her some sailing lessons. It would probbaly increase her comfort level. An instrucor on your own boat would let her learn the cabability first hand
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tgentry
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Post by tgentry »

Outstanding!

Take it easy and try not to introduce her to the exciting side of sailing too early.
Tom
1981 Endeavour 43 s/v Pearl Lee
Former 1976 Columbia Payne 9.6 s/v Gin Rhumby
Former 1979 Chrysler 26, s/v Copacetic
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Post by NYCSAILOR »

great report and congrats!!! really shows the human side of sailing and how we are all still new to all this..

I used ot tell the passengers all about the keel and the self righting dynamics and how according to physics we cannot tip over....

never worked.... now all I do is tell them a sailboat is SUPPOSSED to sail on an angle and it is normal... .... doesn't work.... they all think we are going to tip over any second and the skipper has no idea what he is doing....and the ole' boat is about to fall apart and sink any minute... they are usually 1/2 right!
C-26, Fixed Keel # 343
shunt1

Post by shunt1 »

What I do is tell them a sailboat is SUPPOSSED to sail on an angle and it is normal... .... doesn't work.... they all think we are going to tip over any second and the skipper has no idea what he is doing....and the ole' boat is about to fall apart and sink any minute... they are usually 1/2 right!
Giggle, that is exactly what I told my wife and friends...

The sailing skills will come in time, but most important of all, she sailed with me that day. We were a united "team" when our sailboat raised it's sail for the first time on the water.

Being a "team" is what a husband and wife is all about.


P.S.

Without my knowledge, my wife had called my boss's wife to invite her to sail with us on Monday. She did not get the telephone message until late Monday evening, after a long weekend of yard work and visiting family.

She said: "Damn, I could have had FUN this weekend!"
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Post by Alanhod »

Fun story, thanks for sharing it with us.

Thanks
Alan
It's a good life on the
Honu, 1976 C-22
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Post by Bhacurly »

Very Cool!

Glad you enjoyed that first sail together. I had 2 friends last year that bought sailboats without knowing how to sail. It was stressfull for both when there SO was on board asking lots of questions that they really didn't know the answers to.

Taking lessons together on your boat will help you feel better faster than trying to figure it out solo for sure.

Some tips I learned watching my friends:

Keep it slow and be polite but be in control there Captain. I went out a few times with one couple and felt I was doing more to keep the peace the teach any sailin! Know your limits and drop sail an motor before you get anxious. Communicate clearly and simply until you both know the terminology. Practice reefing and do it early. It's amazing how much more mellow it is and will build your confidence fast knowing how to do it well. It's easier to shake out a reef then put in, so if ya think ya might want to reef cuz the wind is a bit much, then ya probably shoulda already. Don't worry about what other boats are doing. Keep it fun!!

Your already way ahead of the game in that she likes it! My buddy laughed when he told me they had their first fight on the boat... He was grounded for 2 weeks and had to reread sailing for dummies before she would go back out with him. Turned out he wasn't doing anything wrong, he just learned he couldn't straight to his slip going home cuz it was pretty much into the wind! She was upset cuz he couldn't explain why the boat wouldn't go that way and there were kids to pick up... So figure if the wind is behind you leaving the mooring, gonna take 2-3 times as long coming home and plan your time. It's easy to get far enough out that even motoring back at 5-6mph is gonna take a while...

Sorry to run on but it is something I also enjoy doing with my sweety and she had to be comfortable to keep coming back. Now she likes to get the rail wet once in a while,, is pretty good at bailing out the cabin if we get knocked over, and will fall asleep on long tacks in good breezes. She loves how relaxing it can be, but has enjoyed the excitement that can happen also. Seems it's never the same twice. I hope you both get to enjoy it as much as we do.

BTW both my friends are still sailing with the SO's, and have learned alot in 1 year. The reefing thing may have saved one marriage, and one relationship :lol:

Billy
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