I enlisted two sailing friends (thanks JACK J and RON R!) for the maiden voyage. The wind did not cooperate, blowing only a couple of knots. It did give us just enough breeze to sort out the sails and deck rigging. Fourteen months from opening the kit crate, I now have an ocean capable sailboat. After the maiden voyage, I now have a new list of to-do items to tend to, but I can now go sailing as a reward. The maiden voyage revealed a few short falls on my part: I seem to have forgotten any cleating system for the asymmetrical jibs, I never evened opened up the electronics manuals, the jib sheets were two feet too short, and the motor mount needs to travel up/down farther. These were all easy fixes. A few days later I sailed solo, and took the "hard on the wind" picture.
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Maiden Voyage |
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Ron and Jack |
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Looking Up |
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Ghosting Along |
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Hard On The Wind (yes, the Pacific Ocean is just past that jetty) |