SAT, back from the wet

Spent several hours on the lake saturday morning. Loaded in at 8, left around 1. Most of the time was spent paddling upwind so that I could test out my little sail rig.

Oh yeah, the rudder worked flawlessly, and is VERY authoritative, even when creeping along.

Sitting here on the porch writing this, with the afternoon breeze picking up, I am thinking I was on the water at entirely the wrong time. While out, I was getting 1-3mph breezes at best. I can say the sail works, but at those windspeeds, not much. My handheld GPS was clocking downwind between 1 and 2knots usually nearer to 1. I could only tell by watching the shoreline and that there was a ripple wake from the bow. A very small ripple, but it was there, and it wasnt from the wave pattern. The waves never really developed much, only once did I actually feel any, and that was when I was abeam the pattern.

Oh well, it did work, and I know i

t works. Admittedly, a lake isn’t truly open water, especially one nestled in Appalachia, so that was a consideration in my testing. I was able to do one little broadreach at 1.4knots. MSG Grumpy is right of course, (and I did agree with him in comments) that some center board or something will be needed for anything other than down wind. I did that broadreach using my paddle blade as a leeboard. Wasn’t the best as it is a contoured shape, rather like a shallow spoon, but it did help fight sideslip, and I was moving so slow, I probably could have used my hand held flat. So, I’ll be working on some leeboard setup. Probably not soon as there won’t be much demand for the sail on my part, not here anyways. Its won’t work on the river very well, and I’ll only get on the lakes when the river is up (like it is this weekend.) But there may come a day when I visit something coastal,,, maybe,

Possibly,

Who knows?

(Sorry, no pics of water time. My phone was in a watertight box and not exactly accessible. )

Side note: it might help performance if I didn’t pack a weekend camping trip into my holds everytime I go out.

Airing out gear n holds

(Above: the holds are watertight for the most part, but I open them all up, empty, and air out the space after each trip just to be sure. Usually all I see is some condensation. )

Call it prep or insurance, same difference, but I take it, and who’s to say I won’t decide to stay out all weekend on a whim.