The Minneapolis Sailing Season Begins!


It's official, it is SAILING season in Minneapolis! The buoy stickers and keys starting arriving in mailboxes today (May 5th), and that is the all-clear for getting your boat on the water. With the help of several intrepid friends, Jackdaw was the first on the buoys, and after the launch and rigging, we enjoyed a blast around the lake in the 20+ knot winds, with mixed times of driving rain and sunshine. It was perfect. We would not have changed a thing. I think sailors have a spiritual connection with the water and the wind, and it felt SO good to be back on board. And Jackdaw was perfect as well!

A couple of things to note:
1) Lake Harriet sailors will need to use the key included with your sticker to unlock the city tenders. This is a new policy for this year.
2) The water level seems quite good, the and water is clear.
3) The warm bright spring has brought the milfoil out early, so watch out by the docks!

See pictures of the launch and first sail after the break:



This is how you launch a 30 foot mast on a 23 foot boat. Not for the faint of heart. Lots of engineering helps! Notice the A-frame, the adjustable transom support with roller, and the bow winch all helping make it happen in the 20+ knot breeze. Because of the design of the raising system, there is no real work involved, but it seem like there is always a hundred things that could go wrong. Have to keep a constant eye on the shrouds and halyards!


Normally I don't need or do this, but I have a team on the halyards for side support. All went smooth!

Almost up. Checking the sheaves and lines at the deck/mast tabernacle. All my lines come aft from here, so this is a complex and busy place on my boat.



Backing into the water. All thru-hulls checked and ready! Ensign proudly snapping in the fresh breeze! With 2.8 feet of draft, I can JUST get in without the trailer extension out.


After we got in the water and Brian, Steve, and Mark had to leave, Werner and I spent an hour or so loading up supplies and getting the new roller furler ready. A moment of sheer silent panic as I thought I put the roller furler head on backwards, which would have necessitated dropping the mast. Thankfully, I was just looking at it wrong.

Because we did not yet have my tender key, we lashed my inflated dinghy to the cabin top, and started the electric motor to set off to the buoy.

But the 20-25 knot wind (gusting to 30 knots, or 35mph) straight out of the WSW and onto the bow was not going to let that happen, and because we had not yet rigged the main, we unrolled the blade just as the rain started.

BANG!

Jackdaw torn off, quickly hitting 5.8 knots in a BEAT to windward under just the jib.

Werner drove, I tended the sheets, and we had the time of our lives beating back and forth in the driving rain.

Every now and then, the rain would stop and the sun would come out, and we looked and each other and smiled, thinking that this was the best damn thing on earth we could be doing at this moment.

Getting past 4pm, we coasted into the buoys, and turning into the wind and the perfect time, we caught the buoy first time.

After some wrapping up, we used the dinghy to paddle to the sea wall.

What a day!

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