Sailing Again!

After two and a half months I got back on the water!

That time was obviously taken to give my back time to heal from the herniated disc. I had read that it takes 4-6 weeks to heal from this injury. I slept in a recliner for five weeks. I gradually began to do harder tasks. In the last several weeks I have done quite a bit, especially yard work and a project on Robin's car, all the while taking care to not stress the back. It has felt good through it all. 

I have been looking for an opportunity to get out for a couple weeks. The wind has been fairly strong many of those days, in the 12-15 mph range. That's a little more than I want right now. I still don't know this boat very well with only two outings in very, very light wind. Tuesday afternoon looked very promising but the winds were around 10 mph and my time slipped away too. So Wednesday it was. I had a doctor's appointment at 8:30 so I hitched up the boat and got some things together the night before and took off to the doc's with boat in tow. 

Nothing stupendous to report from this outing but there were several take-aways.

First of all, there was a lot of "trash" in the boat when I took the tarp off. Here's what I found.

This has me quite concerned. I've had problems with carpenter ants on my other boat and am wondering if ants have gotten into this boat already. Some of it is just debris that has blown in under the tarp. Looks closely and you'll see a stick.

I'm thinking squirrels may be partly responsible too. But then there is this critter:

I'm thinking this culprit is partly to blame - an earwig. The reproduce proliferously and mold a lot. In any case, I'll be keeping a close watch on the situation.

Second of all, there seemed to be water in the bottom of the boat. Ummm? Well, I sopped up the worst of it before I left. I stopped for breakfast and there seemed to be more! What is this? When I got to the ramp more of the same. Something made me open the lazarette. What! The thing was 2/3 full of water!!!! Where did that come from? Has it been there since my last trip? Has rain water somehow gotten in? Quite puzzling. I scooped it out and wiped it out. I looked a couple times while out on the water. About the only place water could be getting in would be through the gudgeon bolt holes. I didn't see anything. I've just about concluded that rain water somehow blew in under the tarp. But still puzzling. 

Third take away, I was eager to see how much easier, if any, the new block at my masthead would make raising the mainsail. I had lashed it to the fairlead. Answer: it was a thousand times easier! During the course of my outing yesterday I raised the mainsail three or four times. It works wonderfully. I lose 2 or 3" of height in my sail but I can live with that. 

Fourth, I practised rowing. The wind never filled in so I really didn't sail at all. But I did row 2-3 miles overall I guess. I got into a pretty good rhythm. With my leather reglued and reattached (it came loose last time out), my oars stayed in place and I was able to concentrate on technique. I do believe I need to work on shaping my grip on one of the oars. One handle is very round. The other is not. I'll work on it some. 

Fifth, I tested a simple setup for oar storage. I kept the oars in the locks and secured the oar with two bungees. Not very elegant, but it works. I'll keep other options open.

So that's my outing. No sailing but profitable nonetheless.