Sailing Adventure

Tuesday morning Sonia left for work at her usual time but didn't come home.  That was expected.  She flew to Columbia South Carolina to attend a class presented by a power cable manufacturer.  She is due back this evening (Friday 11/11).  I decided that yesterday (Thursday) would be my day to take Teazer to the lake and do a little sailing.  

The weather forecast was for temperatures nearing 60 with winds 10 - 15 mph.  I wandered down into the garage around 8:30 and got everything ready to leave about about 9:00. Off I went on the nearly hour long drive to lake Logan Martin to Sonia's Aunt Polly's home.

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I got Teazer launched and tied off at the somewhat dilapidated dock that serves the launch ramp.  Once I untied the painter from the dock the wind was blowing out of the north was trying to drive my little boat against the rip-rap lining the shore line. I rowed out some 50 yards or so and got the dagger board and rudder in place.  I raised the sail and off we went.  It was an exhilarating ride.  I steered NNE with the wind off my port bow and Teazer took the wind and ran.  I had started with the short tiller I made this summer and found that in that wind I needed the leverage and length of the old tiller.

I came to into the wind and changed out the tillers.  Now we took off in a northwesterly direction with the wind and spray coming across the starboard bows.  I was sitting on the bottom of the boat as far to starboard as I could go.  I had my GPS unit out just to track my speed.  I must admit it took a good bit of coordination to handle the sheet (the line that controls the angle of the boom) and the tiller.  The wind was a little gusty causing Teazer to really lean over to port when the wind gusted.  Lean over enough to make me decide that I needed to either steer a bit away from the wind or let the sheet out to luff the sail and slow down.

I could not pay close attention to the GPS but I did see 5.7 mph on a tack and 4.9 sailing downwind.  

I guess I'd been sailing back and forth for nearly an hour.  I was heading east just north of the marina that is in the southeast corner of the map above.  The wind was strong and I could feel the pressure on the rudder through the tiller.  All of a sudden I heard a sound like cracking splintering wood.  The boat gibed the swinging boom knocking my hat off my head as I ducked just in time avoiding a nasty blow.  I tried to correct the direction of the boat but every time I moved the tiller I heard the sound of splintering wood.  I looked back and saw that the tiller was broken.  One of the mahogany plywood cheeks cracked and broke.  I hurriedly replaced the tiller with the short one and got the boat back under control.

I tacked back around and headed out to more open water so I could have a few minutes to calm down and get settled in.  That's when I realized that the boom had taken my glasses off of my face when it took the hat.  I had not even missed them for the few minutes it took me to get the tillers swapped out and the boat under control.  

I decided it was enough sailing for the day and headed back toward Polly's.  That leg of the trip was completely uneventful.  I sailed the boat to about 20 feet from the dock, pulled the dagger board and rudder, lowered the sail and rowed the last few feet to the dock.

I loaded Teazer up on the trailer battened every thing down and headed home.  Once home I realized I was whipped.  It was only 1:00 pm and I felt as if I'd been at hard labor for 10 hours.  

10 - 15 mph winds may just be too strong for me and my boat.  But lesson learned.  No one was hurt and no real damage to Teazer.  Now I have a winter project to repair or replace the tiller.