I went sailing this weekend

[SpcAlan1]

Here is a description of yesterday's sailing day.

Supposed to been light winds on Lake Lanier, Georgia.. 3-4 MPH

Turned out to be 10+, which is great and to where I was going ( Buford Dam ), that means I would be sailing downwind 90% of the way ( which I suck at ). But hey, today is a new day.. Plus I have never been to the dam before.

I moved my jib cars forward and unrolled my genoa. This created a huge pocket ( almost looked like a spin sail haha ).

I pushed my boom perpendiculur to the boat and back-fed a line to keep the boom from swaying all over the place. Which worked great.

Started out great with both sails quite full, until the boat started rocking left-right, left -right.. i felt like I was in a death roll, and instead of sh*tting my pants, I let de-powered my genoa and rolled it up 'alot'. That fixed the wobbles ( is that normal ???? ). I guess that is what it is called ( death roll ).

We are making awesome time.. I am a noobie to sailing and I was impressing myself and girlfriend.. just as the wind changed and the line that kept the boom from going 180 degrees across the boat, snapped and the boom came flying around ( yikes ). of course, our heads were down as always, but I saw the boom move, and I had time to say sh*t, and then it snapped. So in .5 seconds I pulled as much main sheet as I could to limit the boom swing, which worked well. Maybe next time I will use a stronger line ( and pay attention to the wind ).

The #1, #2, #3, #4 rule on my boat and I instill this to EVERYONE on my boat, is to keep your head down. I bug the living sh*t out of everyone on my boat, but hey.. it could save your life one day.

So we made it all the way to the dam, took some photos, and headed back from a great day of sailing.

Just my story...

[WanderingStar]

Any trip you can walk away from is a good one.
There is a learning curve in sailing, some days are frustrating. Some days are spectacular. Stick with it, keep learning. Still better than work.

[smackdaddy]

Hey Spc - great job dude! I'd say that rates as a BFS. Where do you sail?

[SpcAlan1]

So is that wobble normal? it was pretty bad and I was getting worried ( so was my gf ).

[SpcAlan1]

Originally Posted by smackdaddy

Hey Spc - great job dude! I'd say that rates as a BFS. Where do you sail?

Not sure what a BFS is..

But my boat is at Aqualand Marina in Flowery Branch. Are you close to there?

[smackdaddy]

A BFS is a Big Freakin' Sail. I just ripped your story and dropped it into the BFS thread. Take a look at it. Some tremendous sailing stories in there from all kinds of sailors...newbs to salts.

AND - every year I run the "BFS Cup" where one group actually gets a big freakin' trophy for having the best BFS of the year. Voting starts October 1 - so sail big!

[lporcano]

chau

[SpcAlan1]

Wow. I thought a dead run was supposed to the the 'most' comfortable run?
Boy was I wrong.

So it is better to always sail on the 'angle'?

[ericread]

Wow. I also thought a dead run was supposed the most efficient. Would this to some extent depend upon the boat (keel design)?

Thanks in advance!

[lporcano]

chau