A Mixed Day...

[Bilgemaster]

Yesterday's mission was to solo launch my Mac 26X for only its 2nd time in the drink under my command, as it were, though "command" might be overstating the actual situation. The goal was primarily to just get her off her trailer, motor her around the pier, and tie her up out of the way, so as to reattach the forward bunks to the trailer, which I discovered floating near ramp's edge during her inaugural launch last week. The wood blocks underneath the protective carpet seemed solid enough, but the bolts retaining them were just...well, gone. As if to confirm this, a third rearmost port side block "jumped ship" as well during the launch.

The solo launch went well enough, thanks to a couple of YouTube videos on the topic: basically I tied off a long line from the bow to the trailer steps, prepared another line aft to the pier with plenty of slack, launched, walked the forward line around to the pier, made it fast, then snugged the aft line and made it fast. All nice and tidy and quick...A somewhat dreaded task done rather well, though I. Anyone watching might have thought I knew what I was doing.

Then, came the maneuvering to the far side of the pier. This did not go as splendidly, to say the least. I definitely need more practice. I'll be lucky if I don't end up a featured segment in one of those "Boat Launch Follies" compilation videos. Ever seen that Monkey with a Gun video? It was a very similar vibe. The fact that it was Memorial Day Weekend, and every jamoke with a floatee in the 703 area code seemed to be coming or going probably didn't help. No damage, but I could really use a padded cove to practice in, that's for sure. Still, I eventually got her tied up thanks to a kindly dockside soul, and was able to attend to the trailer. So: mission accomplished. With the wind likely to be a little more, well, "windy" today than during her initial shakedown cruise, I am heading back this morning for another lesson from the great folks at Woodbridge Sailing School, who I simply cannot recommend highly enough.

Here are a couple of shots from yesterday, including a detail shot showing her nameplate, which I slapped together from a rather nice piece of driftwood...all painted and varnished and sort of nice and nasty:







Well, off to scourge the Potomac!

P.S. Tips on close quarters operation and maneuvering under power would be very gratefully received.

[Jimmyt]

After you get off the trailer, put the keel down a bit - mind your depth. This helps minimize sliding and improves control somewhat. If you have adequate depth for rudders - put them down. Slow speed only with the rudders down - though. If you get in a bind, the boat maneuvers better in reverse, with the motor pulling (don't ask). Ballast may help - but I'm usually empty when putting on and off the trailer, but fill before leaving the dock usually. When you get it in the water after launch, unless you need to stay empty, I'd put the ballast in.

If no one had been there to watch, you'd have done it perfectly...

[Starscream]

My favorite maneuver for docking is to approach at a shallow angle with some speed on, and then turn sharply towards the dock and at the same time use a good burst of reverse. Turning towards the dock initially sends the bow towards the dock, so this has to be timed carefully, but it gives the boat some momentum that helps counter any off-dock wind. Putting the motor in reverse with a good burst of throttle rapidly stops the forward momentum and pulls the stern in to the dock. If there is an off-dock wind it's best to have docklines, front and back, in hand and ready for a quick disembark when the stern gets close enough. The bow can fall off pretty quickly even in low winds. This technique works for me because where I usually dock is protected and rarely has winds over 6kn. At higher wind speeds I wouldn't want to single-hand an approach if the wind was blowing off the dock.

I have some little loopy things for docklines that fit on a boathook to help you reach out and drop it over a dock cleat from a distance, but have never actually used them. Bought them at a boat show cuz they seemed like a great idea at the time.

Biggest rule is: ALL BOARDS DOWN as far as is safe. It makes a HUGE difference in controlability.

When maneuvering around other boats and docks, it's a good idea to have fenders deployed on BOTH sides. It takes just a second for things to go awfully wrong when the wind or current gets a hold of the Mac. If you change your mind about which side you will approach from, or if your mind is changed for you, it really sucks to have to get the fenders changed in a hurry.

[Ixneigh]

I never met a dock I didn't hit

[dlandersson]

Ditto - lol

I never met a dock I didn't hit

[Tomfoolery]

CB down, at least some of the way. One rudder down (minimum), and if the depth is questionable, don't secure it; just let it hang. This is for launch and haul, so you're moving slowly. And as they say, slow is pro.

Use the directional thrust of the OB to your advantage. I often do as Starscream suggested, but I usually grease it in straight, put some reverse on to slow the boat, and when it's barely moving forward, cut toward the dock to pull the stern in, if it needs it. But sometimes the wind doesn't cooperate, and I have to come in on a bit of an angle.

Many folks use a long loop of line for docking, from the bow to the stern cleat. Once the boat is against the dock, the loop allows you to pull either or both ends in as needed, with less chance of losing one of them.

[Bilgemaster]

(...snip!)

Biggest rule is: ALL BOARDS DOWN as far as is safe. It makes a HUGE difference in controlability.

When maneuvering around other boats and docks, it's a good idea to have fenders deployed on BOTH sides. It takes just a second for things to go awfully wrong when the wind or current gets a hold of the Mac. If you change your mind about which side you will approach from, or if your mind is changed for you, it really sucks to have to get the fenders changed in a hurry.
(snip!...)

And how right you are! Having got her out of the launch basin area this morning without incident, I took her out for a little experimental "futzing around" well away from the teeming launching, landing and gawking Memorial Day Weekend masses (i.e., "Go ahead kids!...Go play in the water on that slippery hard concrete launch ramp instead of that sandy beach just over there! Don't worry about that triple-axle trailer with the Queen Mary perched on it blindly barrelling backwards towards the lot of you. Mom and I'll just sit over here on this bench in the shade polishing off this fourth six-pack of Burpz.).

I didn't try downing the centerboard, but dropping the rudders made a HUGE difference in maneuverability over yesterday's rudders-up debacle. Seems I recall having read somewhere how it's better with them up when the motor's engaged, but that must only be at speed, right? Yesterday, with them up, I might as well have been standing in the cockpit steering with a leaf blower for all the control I had. Yes...it's MUCH better rudders-down. Having established by trial in open waters what should have been blazingly obvious, after a little motor-only jaunt around the general area (my scheduled sail instructor was an apologetic last minute no-show), I returned to the ramp basin rudders-down, solo docked right where I wanted first time and without incident or even the least hint of "undue bumpage", and then got her right onto her trailer (whose bunks stayed put for a change), and then back off to her cozy spot in the storage lot...just like I'd been doing it for years and years.

Thanks to everyone for the great tips! Keep 'em coming, if you can think of anything else a newbie should know. In the meantime, here at long last are a couple of shots of Breakin' Wind actually going somewhere on the water, in this case the mighty Potomac, just off Freestone Point (which is a nicely prominent, distinctive and handy landmark for finding my way home). Motoring only, but hey, sails'll come...They'll come...

[dlandersson]

Above hull speed (approx. 6 knots), rudders and centerboard up - unless you want damage.

I didn't try downing the centerboard, but dropping the rudders made a HUGE difference in maneuverability over yesterday's rudders-up debacle. Seems I recall having read somewhere how it's better with them up when the motor's engaged, but that must only be at speed, right? Yesterday, with them up, I might as well have been standing in the cockpit steering with a leaf blower for all the control I had. Yes...it's MUCH better rudders-down.

[Starscream]

It's kinda fun to hear you going through experiences similar to mine when I first took out my X. I read Sailing for Dummies to chapter 8, then went sailing. If you are staying in protected waters with predictable winds, that'll get you going. The first time the wind grabs the sails and leans the boat over is a heart-attack moment, but you'll rapidly find yourself craving that feeling of the wind hooking up with your machine. The fist time you realize that your boat is producing a wake, under sail alone, is an incredible moment. That realization is soon followed by noticing that the only sound while this happens is the gurgling of the wake itself, and that you are making useful motion for free, cleanly, and elegantly. You can't help but feel hooked in to the history of sailing when this happens, somehow linked in to thousands of years of human history.

Having the centerboard down, even partway, makes another quantum leap forward in controlability, improving it from Leaf Blower status to Marginal status. It gives the boat something to pivot around, and helps to resist sideslip in a crosswind.

Rudders and centerboard UP when motoring anywhere other than at the dock. There are several tales about what happens when the boards are down and speed is up. They dig in and turn the boat on its side. Read this log, especially near the end when they are heading back from the Bahamas and the boat suddenly lies down on its side: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/explore ... /index.php. There are several others like it.

If you are ever powering around, and feel that the boat is behaving weird in a turn, like its leaning to the outside when it usually leans to the inside, stop and pull the boards up. The other thing that you may find is a lack of steerability at a certain speed, (about 10mph if I remember correctly: I totally avoid anything between 8 and 12 mph), as the boat tries to transition from sailboat mode to motorboat mode. In that zone the boat doesn't know its relationship with its bow wave and can wander all over the place.

[Tomfoolery]

Rudders and centerboard UP when motoring anywhere other than at the dock.

I would tweak that to say Rudders and centerboard UP when motoring above hull speed. I rarely motor faster than hull speed, and therefore rarely have no rudder (one, usually, for just motoring around), and in deep water I drop the CB all the way down, but in shallow water, even 6" of CB line payed out puts a lot of CB in the water. Just long and shallow, like a 'skiff keel'. But helps in keeping it straight, for sure.

If I'm docking in deep water, I'll leave the CB all the way down, but if unsure, I'll pull it up so about 6-8" of line is payed out. And being a swing CB, I'm not worried about hitting shallow bottoms (of mud and/or sand, not rock of course) at slow speed on the way in.

[Johnacuda]

A bit off-topic, but your has one good looking finish to it. Nice shine!

[bobbob]

Dont forget to finesse the throttle when you are coming in. Lowest forward speed is too fast - you will need to modulate between idle and lowest speed (ie. give it a couple seconds of forward and then shift back to idle). Don't expect to hit reverse to slow down when you are at the dock.

[Bilgemaster]

A bit off-topic, but your has one good looking finish to it. Nice shine!

Many thanks! Yet I should perhaps point out that that unnatural gleam, sir, is an expression of just over a year's worth of impotent obsession. Having had to attend to a host of issues on the hard before she was fit for the wet, all that preening and buffing and polishing was a sort of "recreational therapy" to help me visualize just how marvelous she would one day be in full gallop on the waves...rather like a convict's obsessively trimming his mustache for a welcome home kiss at the end of a long sentence with lots more time still to serve. Now that she has known Neptune's embrace, I would point out that nice nasty little scum line along her waterline left unscrubbed...Yes, she's uncleansed and a little bit nasty now. Nice and nasty.

Got her out again on my own yesterday. Superb weather, with just enough gentle steady breeze (maybe 5 to 10 mph) to fill the foresail for "Get to Know your Jib Day." I can't say what the original steering gear might be like, but what with the lovely new rack-and-pinion steering kit kindly fitted by the previous owner, she seems to pretty much sail herself on a close haul with just the foresail up in those conditions...Enough so, that I felt perfectly fine heading below for this or that now and then (OK...You're right. It was for beer), and just letting her burble along as she wanted. Here's a little looksee:



By the way, if you're looking for a perfect soundtrack for your best voyages, you could do worse than grabbing yourself a copy of Carolan's Harp on CD for the princely sum of 29¢ plus shipping. You won't regret it. Here's a sample of some rollickin' 18th century baroque Irish orchestral goings-on. Eat your heart out and 'Hallelujah' that, George Frideric Handel!

[dlandersson]

Here's another good one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXum10dY2j8

By the way, if you're looking for a perfect soundtrack for your best voyages, you could do worse than grabbing yourself a copy of Carolan's Harp on CD for the princely sum of 29¢ plus shipping. You won't regret it. Here's a sample of some rollickin' 18th century baroque Irish orchestral goings-on. Eat your heart out and 'Hallelujah' that, George Frideric Handel!

[NiceAft]

Bilge,

It looks like you and Breakin' Wind are having a gas.

Ray