First Family Sail (A few pics)

cb32863 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-02-2010

Well the kids and I took out the boat club's Pearson 26 today. Started out great with the wind about 10-15. Put a reef in at the dock and headed out. All in all was not too bad of a day, spent about 2 hours on the water. Things got a little heavy when the winds picked up to 20-25 about an hour and half out, so I decide it would be best to lower the main and motor in. Didn't want the kids to have too much adventure their first time out. Next time we will go with a bit less wind and the chances of a more comfortable time.

The boy lending a hand.

Heading out of the marina.

Getting ready to hoist the main. Notice the "Aerodynamic" hair....

Out on the lake.

Over the bow.

They really did have fun... honestly...

Sailing along.

More scenery.

Even more scenery......

As you can see, things were getting "cranky".

As I said it was fun all in all and we are all looking forward to a good season.

Hope you enjoyed the pics.

CB

Freesail99 · #2 (**permalink**) 05-02-2010

Glad you had fun with the family, that is what life is all about. Having never sailed on a lake looked like a calm day to me .........

cb32863 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010

Guess it depends on your definition of calm. 20-25 with higher gusts was what it got up to...

carl762 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010

Great pics. Thanks. Two weeks and counting.

legarots · #5 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010

Looks like fun. Couple tips:
1. Untie the main sheet before heading out in case the motor fails
2. Reconnect the lifeline once everyone is on board

cb32863 · #6 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010

I had the main undone when we left the dock, it was reefed. I forgot about the lifeline though......

Stillraining · #7 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010

Legarots...is refering I believe to your nice and tidy main sheet haning off your boom not your sail itself..

Maybe thats a reefing line as it looks like your main sheet is blue not green...hard to tell.

cb32863 · #8 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010

Yes, that would be it. I noticed that when we headed out and made a note to not do that again. Thanks for clearing that up.

AdamLein · #9 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010

Looks like a good time. Don't worry about forgetting to untie stuff... I do it all the time, with hilarious results. Also don't worry about the "aw that's nothing" folks.... lakes have very little fetch, so a lot of wind will still not produce serious waves. Good for safety, bad for convincing people the conditions were tough

If you have the luxury, I recommend starting off your sail upwind, so that your return trip is downwind. The family will wonder who turned off the bad weather.

Another thing... all the pictures of your jib show it furled. If you felt like it was hard to control the boat, i.e. the tiller was pushing back on your hand, it may be because she was unbalanced with only her main up.

cb32863 · #10 (**permalink**) 05-03-2010

Thanks Adam for the info and the advice. I wil try that next time. Was a bit tough that day to sail upwind and get anywhere with the location of the marina. As you said, if you have the luxury. I thought keeping the jib furled would help it be less of a handfull. Didn't have much trouble steering her around but I will definatly keep that in mind next time we go out. Thanks again.