First Sail

The forecast for July 10th wasn't perfect; a Southerly breeze less than 5 knots would be obstructed by houses, trees, and the ground on the South bank of the creek where I was; and blowing away from me and down the creek if there were problems; but it was light enough, and my self-inflicted deadline was upon me, so off I went.

With the rig lowered and the rear seats down, the model fit nicely into the back of the Tahoe.

A short 1/4 mile drive to the creek and the public pier at "Sloop Cove" on Stoney Creek - which I guess is an appropriate place to sail a model sloop of war.

There I set up the rig which consisted of raising top masts and inserting the fids, and sliding out the jib boom and then the flying jib boom. I bolted on the ballast torpedo - something I should have done at the water's edge instead of next to the truck. With everything assembled,

I switched everything on and tested the controls, then lugged the 50 pound model down to the water. I bagged the 8 or so pounds of lead shot left from filling the ballast torpedo into sandwich bags of about 2 pounds each. With the model in the water I placed these inside balancing the model very slightly down by the stern. The model still sat about an inch high. I estimate with the full rig, deck, and the rest of her hardware installed, she may need 4 or 5 pounds more internal ballast to put her on her marks.

Switched on the controls, gave everything a quick test, then stood back to watch her sail. The light wind was fluky and chaotic up next to the shore, but she caught a little air and began to move. It was official - she was a boat.

She slowly sailed away and I turned her to starboard. The rudder seemed to work fine if she had any way on her, but she wasn't going to turn on a dime. As she circled back she came close to the shore where there were some submerged steaks, so I headed her off and started again.

This time I head straight out of the slip and she slid along nicely till an eddy of air off the end of the pier caught her aback and started moving her astern. Here I discovered that she steered fairly well backwards, so long as you didn't expect tight turns. The breeze died away, but her momentum and my trying to turn her sent her between some pilings and over to a neighboring dock. A boat on a lift caused another eddy of air that stopped her again, and eventually moved her forward where she caught a very light breeze off the creek. Close-hauled I slid her along the dock trying to get her out into the open creek.

It took a few tense minutes, but she sailed clear and out into the creek.

As expected, the Southerly breeze was iffy, shifty, and contrary. It stayed light, less than 5 miles-per-hour, with one or two easy gusts up to maybe 7 or 8 that heeled the model a little and made my intestines roll around inside thinking of her heeling over with no deck on her and sinking. Most of the sailing was pretty poor with airs that would move her nicely for a few seconds, then catch her full a-back in the next. She wallowed around for a while as I tried to work her back to me. I'm guessing this went on for about an hour since launching her, when I noticed she wasn't responding to controls any more - the battery died.

A bit of air took her straight towards a dock down stream, but I was already in the water and headed that way. It's here I realized I should have taken a life vest to make swimming a bit easier, since I'm not so hot a swimmer. I didn't mind swimming, since it was 90+° out and very humid. I got to the boat just after she bounced her fore-stay on the dock and was starting to drift off. I was afraid she catch a breeze and haul off down the creek leaving the lumbering manatee that built her behind, but I got to her and bracing myself between two pilings, caught my breath. I worked back to the public pier on my back, towing the boat along, until I could touch the bottom again and walked her to the beach.

I took the internal ballast out and carried the model back to the truck, where I took off her ballast torpedo and took down her rig. The dry model was stuffed back into the Tahoe by her soggy builder, and home we went.