Last night after work I went over to check if anything had come in the mail for me. Recently I have gotten a spare anchor, a compass, a GPS (Garmin eTrex Venture HC), and now a hammock and a good book called
My Old Man and The Sea. I look forward to stringing up the hammock and just reading if I'm ever anchored off-shore with nothing better to do. I headed to the boat and called/texted a few friends to see if anyone wanted to go out sailing. It was beautiful weather. The breeze was about 10 knots, and it wasn't going to get dark till around 9:00. I waited to hear back but then decided just to go out on my own. I prepared this time by getting my boat hook up on deck so I could push off if need be. Luckily the wind was working for me and I shoved off without the slightest problem. Getting out of the harbor was a bit tricky though. I had to tack back and forth quite a bit with just the main, and the direction of the wind made it feel like I was just drifting sideways. I slowly made my way towards the mouth of the harbor. I thought of tying off to a nearby dock just to put the jib up and make another go at it. But one more tack and I got out. There was a strange current that started to push the bow of my boat towards the breakwater, but in the end it went smoothly. I headed out on a close reach under main alone and fired up the GPS. It quickly registered that I was doing 2.5 MPH. With the wind speed it didn't feel like I was even going that fast.
I was keenly aware that I was alone out there as I began to set the jib. A few waves rolled underneath me and made for a bit of a challenge to maintain my footing whilst clipping everything on. After I popped the jib up I was soon doing 4.5 MPH. The best I did was 7 MPH which I though was higher than my theoretical hull speed, so maybe I was doing my calculations wrong. It should be the Square root of the waterline length time 1.32. Or maybe I had to multiply the waterline length by 1.32 and
then do the square root. Not sure, either way I was glad to have the GPS along.
The heat wave that has blasted the Midwest over the last few days led to a thick haze over the water. About a mile out I lost all sight of land. It was nice to be away from everyone and everything, but often I would hear the drone of a fishing boat's engine. It was eerie to hear the noise but not see the vessel. I only hoped that no one would plow into me going 20 or 30 knots. I took up the habit of whistling really loudly every minute or two as a sound signal to other boats.
I struggled to keep in the wind, and for some reason I didn't feel like I was trimmed just right. I lashed the tiller in a position that would at least keep us on the same compass course. The boat would very slowly come a degree or two up into the wind, then it would fall off. The pressure of the sails kept it rounding one way, and the tiller countered it. I found that my little boat could almost sail herself better than I could. We maintained a straight course for about half an hour with no input from me. This allowed me to go below and fetch some Twizzlers, crank up some Linkin Park on the stereo, and wander around on deck. I was wearing my life jacket right from the beginning on this trip. Although it was nice to not have to steer, I knew that if I fell off and missed the dinghy trailing behind I would be left miles out in the lake and
Aequitas could end up in Michigan all be herself. I tried lying down in a quarter-berth just to see what it felt like while underway; I could have drifted off to sleep so easily. It was quite a comfortable motion, not slapping and pounding over the waves. The solitude was liberating.
I made it about 3 miles out before turning around and heading back towards the setting sun. It was so foggy that I could only see the water in a radius around my boat, but there was nothing solid I could use to get my bearings. If it wasn't for the GPS I would have been lost out there with nothing to guide me back in other than the angle of the wind and waves. I averaged 3.5 MPH on the way out, and 5 MPH on the way back on a broad reach. The temperature dropped as the sun sank behind the fog bank and was completely obscured from view. It was very dark by the time I caught my first sight of land. There is a bright LED clock on top of a bank on 8th street which showed up long before the lighthouse did. A rather large group of lights apeared off my starboard quarter and followed me slowly in. It looked and sounded like a barge but later turned out to be a large fishing boat. Again I whistled at 1 minute intervals to make my location known.
I had to steer by GPS for a bit to avoid the pier, and after I was past that point the fog lifted and I sailed straight back to my slip. The wind maintained direction allowing me to go downwind to the dock. I pulled in just perfectly, stepped onto the dock and tied off. I had already come to a smooth stop and I didn't need to rush around for anything. A nice man stood on the dock to assist, but soon realized there was nothing to do.
After putting the dinghy to bed and taking the jib down I accepted help flaking it on the dock. Folding bigger sails by yourself is no easy task. We stood there chatting for a bit. It is by now common knowledge that I have no engine in my boat. "So do you have an engine in there?" "Nope." "Man you know how to sail if you can get in and out of this harbor without one!" We talked for a bit about how kids aren't learning to truly sail anymore, everyone has gotten so used to being able to flip on an engine and head home. He spoke about how sturdy my boat looked, and how impressed he was with how far it's come....And he hasn't even seen the "before" pictures. I was quite proud of myself. It was just the confidence boost I needed. Now I know that I can in fact solo-sail some, and I look forward to the first week in August when we sail to Michigan.
