Launch Party

Sunday I rigged up an ancient block and tackle and used it to haul Skorpa up the neighbors beach. A couple of rollers made the job go fairly easily. We had invited neighbors and a few friends and relatives to come for our official launch.

I told everyone how SKORPA got her name and thanked neighbors and family for helping. One of the neighbors chimed in " and for putting up with the noise" I had forgotten but there were numerous times over the years when the router or planer was whining in the driveway at odd hours of the day or night.

That is Sally standing on the far right followed by her friend Grace, Aunt Arline, Heidi, and John Ciolfi is holding the boat from banging around.

We served fresh fruit and of course lots of Skorpa. I splashed a little cognac on the deck and we rolled her into the water to a hearty cheer.




Now what I was hoping was that one or two trusty sailors would go for a short sail with me in front of the house while the others would watch, chat for awhile and then wonder off  before anything unfortunate occurred. But that is not exactly what happened.

David (trusty sailor) and Grace came with me first. We drifted slowly away from the beach and then began to pick up speed as we got into the wind. As we rounded Thomas Point we felt the full force of the wind. 10 knots form the south with gusts to around 15 knots. That is not a huge amount of wind but enough to heal the boat.

Skorpa is in the foreground and a larger sloop is ahead of us. We are just rounding the Point and beginning to feel the wind.

Here I learned something that I did not know about cat ketches. I understood that a key to survival was to keep the mainsheet in hand so if the boat begins to be overpowered by a wind gust the sheet can be quickly released. I made sure that no one sat on or in front of the mainsheet.

We were sailing along close hauled when a gust of wind began to heal us over. The boat developed a little weather helm which is OK. The wind grew stronger and the boat began to heal further. Grace and David were reaching for something to grab hold of. I released the main sheet. The boat leveled out a little but developed a huge amount of weather helm. The boat was trying to head up into the wind I was using a lot of force to hold the tiller over. The rudder was being dragged sideways through the water. We were slowing down. Things did not feel right. I was fighting to control the boat. We came about and headed back towards the lee of the land where there was less wind.

We glided up to the beach and there was another group that wanted to go for a sail. This was not what I wanted. I was a little concerned that something would go wrong and someone could get hurt. I made sure that the centerboard was all the way down. I noticed on the way in that it was only partly down. This seemed to help. I also learned that when the boat is hit by a gust and the mainsheet is eased it is important to ease the mizzen a little. The two sails are on the ends of the boat. The main way up front and the mizzen in the stern. This allows you to balance the forces on the boat by trimming one sail in or out a little. You can make the forces on the rudder neutral or even steer the boat just by slight adjustments on the sails. Of course if in a gust of wind you suddenly dump one sail while the other is sheeted in tight you can develop strong steering forces and overpower the rudder. Releasing the main causes weather helm and steers the boat up into the wind, rather like turning across a ski slope. Releasing the mizzen imparts lee helm which turns the boat down wind like heading straight down the slope.

I was beginning to relax a little. I also began to see Skorpa's boat launch as being less about me and a little more about the people waiting on the beach for a ride. An older man who lives on the road hobbled down to the waters edge and said he would really like to go for a ride. He required a lot of help just getting into the boat. We sailed back and forth. He was beaming and pointed with excitement as we sailed past his house.

Next David, Judy, and Sally got into the boat. With the centerboard all the way down and the mizzen sheeted out a little more we headed into the wind. Slorpa soared feeling solid, balanced and alive.