First Splash at Last!

[Bilgemaster]

Having "officially" owned my Mac 26X for 415 days and had actual possession of her for 285 days, yesterday at 1:00 in the afternoon during a welcome warm and sunny break in this otherwise wretched gloomy monsoon season we seem to have settled into here in the Mid-Atlantic, she finally got her shakedown cruise with the help of the great guys at Woodbridge Sailing School. Danny and Cameron gave the rigging a knowledgeable once over, tuned and tweaked this and that, helped me bend on the sails for the first time, and off Cameron and I went into the broad reaches of the mighty Potomac. Not a lot of wind, but still managed a few leisurely tacks and a gibe or two and let the poor old Honda 50 finally stretch its legs after maybe a decade's long snooze. At the conclusion of the little maiden voyage we even towed in a jaunty little stinkpotter whose engine had died a few hundred yards from the ramps, so there's already that chit tossed into the good boating karma ledger. Everything was marvelous, and all worked just as it should, that is, except the phone camera...Regrettably the phone was left in the tow beast.

If you're a new Mac owner in the DC Virginia suburbs and, like me, a newbie sailor to boot, and no amount of proffered pizza will seem to lure a veteran Mac owner your way to help ease you into the helm, then you could do worse than give the good folks at Woodbridge Sailing School a ring. For just $75 they'll help get you set up properly and get you out on the water for a couple of hours. I'm looking forward to another "windy day" cruise with Cameron, if the weather will ever again oblige, and am even considering putting it all towards a proper ASA certificate, which couldn't hurt, right? After all, I'll maybe want to do a bareboat rental somewhere someday.

So, I now stand among the drippy.

[Ixneigh]

Well congrats. Sounds like a good day.

[kmclemore]

Well done! Good idea enlisting experts on your first day out... a bad first day can often put off the Admiral, and that impression tends to really last. Plus, you may well have saved yourself that much in broken bits. Money well spent!

[dlandersson]

That's a really good point. The PO of my boat took his wife out just once - and the boat sat on the hard for the next two years (she didn't like something - I suspect his heeling). Made for a motivated seller.

Well done! Good idea enlisting experts on your first day out... a bad first day can often put off the Admiral, and that impression tends to really last. Plus, you may well have saved yourself that much in broken bits. Money well spent!

[Jimmyt]

Congratulations on the maiden voyage! $75 bucks sounds like a great deal for what you got. I paid more than that this morning for a synthetic oil change - and it was nowhere near the enjoyable experience you had.

Next time, make sure you bring the phone or a camera, so we can at least join you vicariously!

I can be bought for pizza and beer up to a 20 mile round trip. You are just too far away - certainly nothing personal - although your avatar is a tad unnerving....

Glad you had a good experience.

[PAWSEIDON]

Having "officially" owned my Mac 26X for 415 days and had actual possession of her for 285 days, yesterday at 1:00 in the afternoon during a welcome warm and sunny break in this otherwise wretched gloomy monsoon season we seem to have settled into here in the Mid-Atlantic, she finally got her shakedown cruise with the help of the great guys at Woodbridge Sailing School. Danny and Cameron gave the rigging a knowledgeable once over, tuned and tweaked this and that, helped me bend on the sails for the first time, and off Cameron and I went into the broad reaches of the mighty Potomac. Not a lot of wind, but still managed a few leisurely tacks and a gibe or two and let the poor old Honda 50 finally stretch its legs after maybe a decade's long snooze. At the conclusion of the little maiden voyage we even towed in a jaunty little stinkpotter whose engine had died a few hundred yards from the ramps, so there's already that chit tossed into the good boating karma ledger. Everything was marvelous, and all worked just as it should, that is, except the phone camera...Regrettably the phone was left in the tow beast.

If you're a new Mac owner in the DC Virginia suburbs and, like me, a newbie sailor to boot, and no amount of proffered pizza will seem to lure a veteran Mac owner your way to help ease you into the helm, then you could do worse than give the good folks at Woodbridge Sailing School a ring. For just $75 they'll help get you set up properly and get you out on the water for a couple of hours. I'm looking forward to another "windy day" cruise with Cameron, if the weather will ever again oblige, and am even considering putting it all towards a proper ASA certificate, which couldn't hurt, right? After all, I'll maybe want to do a bareboat rental somewhere someday.

So, I now stand among the drippy.

Congrats Bilgemaster,

The Admiral and I just picked up a M26X two weeks ago. We did our first shake down sail last Friday and managed to get out and back in safely. We promptly arranged for a pro to take us out yesterday, one week after our shake down sail. We live in the SFO bay area and the winds yesterday we 30 ktns gusting to 38, so we did a dry sailing on technique and boat run through.

We are trailing our new watercraft (Now re-named Paw-Seidon after one of our two cats, Pawseidon and Zuis) this coming long weekend to a nice calm lake were we can explore and get comfortable with the X before we return to SF Bay Sailing conditions. Additional lesions already set up.

I share your excitement of the future adventures you will soon be having. We have two boys ages 12 and 14, and this is a great way to keep them outside and doing actual reality vs VR.

Good Luck and Happy Sailing

[sailboatmike]

As a skipper you have done well, never to proud to take advice from those more knowledgeable in the subject.

A 26 footer can be a handful while learning, we took a old salt from the club out with us on our maiden, and it made the day that much more enjoyable and less stressing, and Im no idiot, if I barked a order at the old salt to trim or steer a different course, he knew I wasnt being nasty, thats just the way you do things on boats, if I would of done the same to the Admiral life may of got less enjoyable.

Glad you enjoyed and welcome to the wonderful comradeship of sailing, we are all brothers of the wind

[rszobel]

Glad to hear you finally made the splash -- the guys at the sailing school are indeed a great resource for you. They put me in touch with an old salt to give the admiral and me a lesson or two when we first started out. Happy to hear all went well - enjoy!

[Catigale]

Congrats and well done helping out a fellow boater.

I've actually found I dont need Seatow nor BoatUS on the Hudson or the Cape. Quick ping on the VHF and there are a ton of people who will tow you out of danger. I'm now way ahead of any tow bill!

I found a loose bait float on Cuttyhunk, pulled it into harbor, asked the Harbormaster whose it was, and tied it off back in place. Next day the fisherman found me on the wharf and told me everyone in Island heard about the " NY guy who done good"

Keep karma bucket topped off at all times.

[Bilgemaster]

Well done! Good idea enlisting experts on your first day out... a bad first day can often put off the Admiral, and that impression tends to really last. Plus, you may well have saved yourself that much in broken bits. Money well spent!

Yesterday was a solo voyage of discovery just for me for precisely that "first impression" reason. I mean, there's no need to confirm what the Admiral already well suspects: that she married a boob. No need for her to witness me hanging myself by my own petard or some such other newbie romping about. Nope. She'll go out when I'm feeling good and ready to make it a nice and low key and competently skippered trip. Sure, the "Admiral" has been aboard a couple of times to inspect the appointments while on the trailer, and pronounce them "maybe adequate", and she's always goiing on about how she adores that healthy sea air, but I'm still selling the concept, so I need to get her out there when everything's at its best, including the skipper. The good news is that Friday's jaunt just makes me very sure it won't be a particularly hard sell.

[Bilgemaster]

(snip!)...certainly nothing personal - although your avatar is a tad unnerving...

Regrettably, it has a pretty fair resemblance to the real article.

[Russ]

... a bad first day can often put off the Admiral, and that impression tends to really last.

Many sailboats (especially Macs apparently) are on the hard because of bad first outings with the admiral. I've seen many for sale for this reason.

Best to master and find a perfect day to introduce her to sailing.

[Gypsea Wind]

Where did you put in?