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Published: October 22nd 2007
Its a long story - but Jamy inherited a Prindle 16 Catamaran from a fellow aviator about a year ago. The boat is 20 years old but generally in good condition...and a bargain as it came for free. Unfortunately it has required a little bit of work, and thus its inaugural voyage with us in early October is worthy of a blog entry!!The boat is over 20 years old and has a few blemishes that show her age, but the sails are in relatively good condition.
On our honeymoon, Mel was introduced to sailing on a 12 foot Hobie... with one sail. Now with twice the sails and about ten times the speed, Mel is on a quick learning curve. Jamy has sailed all his life but Mel thinks he might be a better flight instructor than sailing instructor. There have been numerous blank looks when he yells at Mel to 'pull the jib in' etc...! We are lucky enough to have a marina on base which has made it easy to get out and have a sail during the evening after work or on weekends. Jamy has been slightly (massively) hindered by Mel's complete lack of sailing knowledge...but she's
learning (We have only crashed into the dock once!!)
We had a great sunset sail the other day - complete with wine, cheese and a fruit platter - somewhat of an achievement on a catamaran with no tables or chairs. We are getting much more adept at putting the boat in and out of the water. We wait until the crowd leaves and let Mel back the trailer into the water. Time has reduced from 30 minutes to a few moments for the 10 meter reverse. (But there is still a bit of back..forwards..back..forwards..back; and she has only forgotten to stop the car once when she got to the water!)
Speed on the water is improving as well. Our last sail had us up to nearly 15 knots. Unfortunately it cost us our jib sail which will be in the sail loft getting repaired from it's 8 inch tear. Speed is fun, but on a catamaran can take you further away from the water. We had her up on one hull but didn't push it. The first mate gets a bit scared.
Corpus is quite a windy city built around a bay, so we have been taking
the boat out into the bay for sails at this stage. Once we get a bit more confident with it the plan is to drive it to the beach and have a day out in the Gulf of Mexico.
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non-member comment
If you told me you had a boat i would have been a lot keever to visit.