[Minnesail]

On Friday I launched my my first boat.

I was expecting a total clown show. I haven't towed a trailer in over twenty years, I've never backed down a boat ramp, I've never raised a mast, I've never rigged a boat....

The biggest surprise? It. all. went. well. Not a *&(#-up all day. Well, I did drive over one curb with the trailer tires, but that's it.

The mast was light and easy to lift up. The tiller and troller just popped on. Backing was a cinch. Why was I afraid of boat ramps? Jeez, back down, boat floats, that simple.

The rigging was easy too. Once I started putting stuff on it was just obvious where it went. Like there was a cleat on the boom that had been confusing me, but once I'm running the lines it was clear that's where the outhaul went. I didn't even drop any tools or parts overboard.

Oh, I guess I did do one thing wrong. I forgot my permit and ended up parked on the wrong buoy for two days. The other person still doesn't have their boat out, so no harm no foul.

On the trailer:

And on the water!

The view of the Minneapolis skyline from the lake:

The wind was very light, so I pulled out the nylon 170. I think it's called a drifter. I even got the pole out for some wing and wing action. We were making just over 1 knot in this picture:

Could not get the smile off my face:

And topped it all off with a kimchee and fried egg hot dog from the lakeside restaurant:

 

[Minnesail]

=My first boat was a Catalina 22. It always took me an hour to go from arriving at the marina to motoring away from the ramp.

That sounds likely. I've heard people say that single-handed it takes 'em a half hour from arrival to motoring away. That seems... Optimistic. Anyway, It's on a mooring so I'll only be trailering it a few times a year.

The pig tail topping lift in the one pic made me laugh. On one of my first sails I could not figure out why the boom wouldn't go out and why we kept spinning around. Turns out I forgot to release the pig tail.

The previous owner warned me about that. And it took all the way until tonight, my fourth sail, before I did it myself! Oops.

Have fun

Oh yeah! I was having so much fun tonight I lost track of time and ended up coming back in the dark, still having to pick up the tender, find the mooring ball, and row back. I'm in the city though, so even on a cloudy moonless night it's still light enough to see what's going on.