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Shakedown Cruise

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Slingerland
1st Mate

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USA
96 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/13/2010 : 16:06:45

Two weeks ago, I became the proud owner of “Novia”, having bought it from Cap’n Calhoon of this very board. My family is new to sailing, and with my engineer’s background I wanted to learn how to sail correctly, and how to take care of my boat and my family. I approach problems one step at a time. I booked the ASA Basic sailing class for all of my family, but the first weekend that would work was October 1st!

My biggest weakness is impatience.

The Saturday after we signed the papers, Cap’n Calhoon met me at Novia, and walked me through the boat from bow to stern. He knows how new we are at this, and wanted to show me some things about the boat and some tricks he had learned. We attached the jib, we raised the sails, we tinkered with the outboard. He’s really a good guy!

Later that afternoon, my parents-in-law came up to visit. My father-in-law has always owned bass boats, but never a sailboat. And I had a flash of inspiration: let’s take Novia out for a trip around the marina using just the outboard. After all (as I tried to justify the idea) I need to learn how much momentum she had, how tight she would turn, practice docking, etc. And Patricia's dad had been motorboating for decades! With him along, I told mey wife, we'd be safe.

Somehow the winds were aligned just right, and everybody bought it.

So… my wife, my F-I-L, and my two sons accompanied me to Novia. I had a little grief with the outboard (I’m not used to a choke control yet) but we got started, and backed out of the slip without incident. We left the marina at a conservative pace, and entered the lake at a nice 3 MPH or so. Other sailboats were enjoying the weather. The local sailing club was running a regatta, and another cruiser the size of mine was raising her sails. But we kept the sails in their cases, and toodled out under the outboard. I kept the outboard fairly slow since I’ve never driven a boat this heavy.

My sons were quickly bored (since they had nothing to do) and went into the cabin. I had advised them to bring something along to entertain themselves if they got bored and they had packed up a backpack. While they were doing “something” with the contents of the backpack I was more involved with Novia. I experimented with the tiller… wide turns, then closer turns, then tighter turns. I varied the engine output, seeing how far she would coast.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw the forward hatch open and my older son pop up. Remember the end of the movie “Animal House”? Where John Belushi jumps out of the car dressed like a pirate? Well… yes… my son was wearing a tricorn hat, pirate's vest, eyepatch and a plastic sword. My wife simply shook her head sadly, my FIL snickered, and I could see people in the other sailboats pointing at us. Sigh.

We docked back after about an hour on the water. It took me a couple of tries, as you might guess. I overshot the slip the first time, then had to drive backwards to try again.

But as I’ve said, my biggest weakness is impatience.

As of last Friday, I had memorized “Sailing For Dummies”, the ASA Basic instruction book, “Your First Sailboat” and it was still three weeks until our class. The weather for Sunday was beautiful: low 70s, breeze from 5 to 8 MPH. And Novia was waiting on me. So I took my wife and our younger son (older one was back at college) out to walk them through the boat the way Cap’n Calhoon did for me.

We did not mount the jib, but I uncovered the mainsail and my son and I practiced raising it and tying it off. I walked them through the stays, the shrouds and the sheets, back to the cockpit. The weather was beautiful, and I “innocently” suggested we take Novia out around the marina again. My wife agreed, and we cast off and cruised out with the outboard.

But once we were well out into the lake, I turned into the wind and cut the outboard back to steerage. My wife is highly intelligent and she suddenly looked up then asked me “Why is the mainsail uncovered?” With a wicked grin I handed the tiller to her and walked forward. My son <u>immediately</u> knew what was going on, and he sprang up to help. We hoisted the mainsail, killed the outboard and off we went.

It was slow, probably just 2 or 3 knots, but the breeze was wonderful and we kept going. My wife and I spelled off on the tiller, this time she was the one getting used to the turns and the heeling. Novia does not have a windex, but Cap’n Calhoon had attached two pieces of cassette tape to the shrouds (just think, an ABBA tape made the ultimate sacrifice so we could enjoy the lake!) Like last time, all we sailed was a big circle across the narrow axis of the lake but we stayed out for an hour under sail.

The only nervous moment was coming back to the marina. I had some difficulty starting the outboard: I was bending over awkwardly, and I couldn’t pull hard enough on the rope. But after a couple of tries I changed position to get leverage and the motor started right up. And while lowering the mainsail, the wind gave us a short, unexpected gust that caught me unbalanced by the mast. I did not fall overboard but came close. Still, it was a good learning experience!

Docking was much easier this time: I have a better idea how far Novia will coast, and how tight she’ll turn. I’m learning where to cut my engine into neutral so I can coast the rest of the way into the slip… or at least close enough to nose in, grab a line and haul in the rest of the way!

And… several times I caught my wife smiling on the trip. She’s had a bad year, and seeing her smile was worth the effort.

Class is two weeks away… I can barely wait!

Howard Warren
Little Rock, AR
1979 C-25 #1435, "Novia"

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2010 : 18:46:56

Howard, congratulations on making your wife smile. The good news, as you've foundout, is that your boat is very forgiving. Experimenting is a good way to learn. Keep up the experiments. I hope you all were wearing PFD's. They're particularly important on deck. And, no, you can't swim well enough and neither can your kids.

Edited by - on

Slingerland
1st Mate

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USA
96 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2010 : 18:48:31

PFD's are MANDATORY on my boat! I spent a few extra $$$ to make sure each family member has a PDF that fits them best, plus a couple of extras for occasional guests.

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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9076 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2010 : 20:21:29

Yup... One topic in your ASA course will be what to do when somebody falls overboard while you're under sail. That's when things can get "interesting"--especially if it's the skipper!

Great job so far! You're taking it at just the right pace, particularly for your crew. And letting your wife take the helm and understand how it affects heel is an important part of that!

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2010 : 15:27:44

You might also want to invest in a tether or two. Followign this season's recent regattas we need to get a second one.

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