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Published: February 4th 2006
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Solo Sailing
Unfurled the main and set off! The weather was nice for a few days, sun and mild winds. We had just packed up the boat enough to even consider going out, so it was time. The thought of going out by ourselves in an area we don’t know well and on a boat we are just starting to learn was a bit frightening. But we remembered how we felt with our last boat on the first few times out and realized that we could do it. We also we starting to feel the need and the desire to start the sailing trip and not just the provisioning trip. So we decided to go solo.
We almost got there the first time. Keys in the ignition, lines ready, items all stowed. But at the last second, we decided a quick break to review some of the key items that are critical to know before we left (like how does the GPS work again?) After this, it was a quick push and off we were out into Charleston harbor.
We started out powering out of the marina and into the channel. Nice old southern historic houses on the left. The bay forward. We turned up into the
Full Sail
Sailing beatifully hard to the wind. wind and set the mainsail with the electric winch and we now were sailing! A long road to this point, but it was very nice to be able to get there on our own. We then winched out the genoa (forward sail) and progressed downwind. I tried to turn the engine off, but to no avail. We both tried a few times and then realized we needed to turn the key as well. These are the little things we are learning.
Soon after setting sails, the dolphins again decided to join us. This was Kona’s maiden sail on the Rum Runner, and he had plenty of room to relax and move around. He kept on hearing the blowing from the dolphins as they came up for air and was quite intrigued. He barked a few times and couldn’t figure them out, but it was a nice meeting for all of us.
The sailing was great. We gybed a few times, and then decided to start heading back before the light went away. We turned to the wind and started the trip back. We sailed close to the wind, which had picked up to about 20 knots. We were
Sailing
Charleston in the background on a nice sailing day. really starting to go fast and reached the end of the harbor in no time, so decided it was time to re-furl the sails. The main went back into the mast real quick with help from the electric winch and we rolled the genoa back on its furler and started powering our way to the marina.
So sailing was a breeze. With our past experience, this was not difficult to do and we are finding the boat to sail very nicely with just two people. The part that is a bit scary to learn is the docking. This will come to us with practice, but it is still scary the first few times. So we are motoring back to the marina. I check the tides on the chartplotter and see that it is perfectly between low and high tide, so the current won’t be a problem. However, I was assuming that there would be wind either on my back or in the front. Instead the wind has picked up and is blowing at a steady 20 knots. I’m thinking this should be ok, as we will be blown into our dock, but it will still make things interesting. So
Captain Jen
Jen at the helm. I am trying to see how slow we can go into the marina, and the one drawback on having a huge engine is that you can only go so slow. I find the slowest we can go in gear is about 2.5 knots (about 4 mph). This may seem slow, but when you are a 47 foot boat in a marina it seems very fast. The fun part of our docking is the fact we have to at some point turn the whole boat around before we get on the dock. So there is only one place to do this. I hug to the side and initiate the 180 degree turn with a quick forward to get it going. It seemed the other day when we did this with the service guys helping it went a lot slower. I pushed on the bow thruster (which is a cool motor in the front of the boat that pushes the front sideways either way) and we started to come around. At some point the big boat in front of us was getting closer and closer and we were not done with the turn. So I threw it is reverse to stop our
Captain Jay
Jay at the helm. forward progress as not to hit the boat in front and just pressed the bow thruster to get the front lined up. I have to say, I love the bow thruster. You think you are going to be in a bad situation, then all you do is press the little button and Viola! You are fine. So now we are going in reverse, and the wind is now helping us so we are going about 3.5 knots (6mph) toward the dock. Now you have to line this up pretty good, otherwise you can hit the dock, or miss and hit the 57 foot boat behind you. So as we are coming the dock is getting closer and closer and I am wishing we could slow things down. Jen has the deck all ready and goes to jump off. She quickly ties down the back and rushes to the front. I press my little button and the front comes flying to the dock. I think I was a bit overzealous and Jen ended up having to push the boat back. She quickly tied up and we were happy to be home.
While we could have been more refined, we were
Jen Sailing
Jen sailing downwind. happy with our first solo and are anxious to go out on the first “overnighter” and try out the anchor.
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G-Gran
non-member comment
Scary!!!
Couldn't wait till the end to see if you got docked OK. What a procedure; you must be great sailors. Love