A couple of "firsts" for me

[c130king]

Great sailing day today. Under sail for just over six hours...first time I have sailed that long in one stretch on my boat.

Dropped anchor in 8 feet and will sleep on board tonight...first time to anchor overnight in my boat without beaching.

Just ate my chili and rice dinner...first time to cook onboard.

And posting this via my iPad while on the water...another first for me.

And just plugged in my Davis Megalight for the first time.

Also ran into another Mac from Ft Belvoir Marina. They did not know about this website so I told them...maybe they will check in.

What a great day...I love my Mac.

Pics and videos on my website tomorrow night after I get back home.

Cheers,
Jim

[Lloyd Franks]

Good for you! Lots of new experiences await. Macs are easy to love.

[Russ]

I can't believe all those are firsts for you now.

We absolutely love anchoring overnight and cooking onboard. Nothing tastes better than food cooked on a boat. Frankly, I never would beach overnight for fear of animals climbing onboard. Probably not a justified fear, but swinging on the hook is the best.

Better take some pics of sunset Jim. Oh, bacon and eggs on a boat while sipping coffee isn't bad either.

--Russ

[Catigale]

All good things ultimately rest on bacon..

Sleep tight Jim...

[NiceAft]

That's the sort of post that makes me smile. Good for you Jim.

Ray

[paj637]

Jim,
Great Job! Just did a couple of nights off Cumberland Island last week and it was beautiful. Caught shrimp off my stern with my castnet and grilled them up. Love the 26M and looking forward to pulling it down to the keys this "winter". Hope all is well and that you enjoy your new sailing grounds. Blaze some new trails and keep us posted!
Phil

[Matt19020]

Jim I wish I were You!
Looks like I am pulling the boat tomorrow and will be on the hard for 6 months.....

[flyboy26m]

Way to go!

I just got my Mac and looking forward to some of those firsts myself.

Please post more.

[Chinook]

We enjoy many things about our Mac, but swinging at anchor has to rank near the top for us. With the Mac's shallow draft, we have the greatest possible range of choices for where to drop the hook. Dinghy provides us with easy access to shore. There's nothing quite like sitting in the cockpit, sipping on a cup of tea as the sun sets, with the scenery slowly panning by while swinging at anchor.

[c130king]

Back home. What a great weekend.

Like Chinook said, I was a swinger last night. The winds were probably around 10 knots at most but the boat was swinging left and right pretty hard. So I tried the bridle that has been mentioned here many times. Did not seem to work for me. I tied a bight in the rode about 5' in front of the bow and then attached a long dock line from that bight back to the starboard winch. Swinging was maybe a little less but definitely still swinging.

So I tossed out the second Danforth off the stern and this worked fine.

Both anchors dug in pretty good...I had to exert a little extra effort to get them to break free and they were both coated in thick/sticky mud.

But I enjoyed every minute of dealing with those issues.

And there is nothing like a nights sleep in the boat. It was a little cold but I have slept in much colder in a tent while backpacking the Appalachian Trail. Nice hot cup of coffee in the morning is just right to watch the sunrise.



Got another 5 hours of sailing in today. Got my Garmin GPS and my Raymarine Wheelpilot talking so now the wheel pilot will steer the route I have programmed in the Chartplotter. Also hooked up my home-made boom preventer. Tried it out with a little wing-on-wing and it seemed to work pretty good. I used an old halyard that is a little too stiff...need to get a softer more flexible line. All lines still led back to the cockpit.

And today must have been a REALLY low tide at Fort Belvoir...less than 2' of water a few spots while motoring back to the marina.

Got lots of pictures and videos but I need to do some editing before I post. Check my website tomorrow (or possibly later tonight) if you are interested.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König

[ROAD Soldier]

You also had a full moon too unless it was cloudy at the Upper Chesapeake. Here in the lower Chesapeake I tried my luck fishing that night at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT). I didn't have any luck because finding out from the locals done there you have to anchor next to the lights on the bridge this time of year. I could only troll because I was by myself and with the current I dear not handle the anchor that close to the bridge portion by myself and take the risk of being on the morning news. So I just sailed back under a full moon totally cool got in at midnight. There was a time there at the widest portion of the Chesapeake I could see the sun setting over water and the full moon just breaking the horizon coming up at the same time. It was so awe striking I forgot to take a picture. The Chesapeake is such a great place minus the political state governments surrounding it.

[Doug W]

Re: A couple of "firsts" for me
by c130king » Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:02 pm

Back home. What a great weekend.

Sounds like a great time!

[Russ]

Swinging on anchor is just part of the deal. Think of it as a way of keeping the scenery changing.
I'm envious of you for being able to enjoy your boat. I just put the cover on mine for the winter.

And there is nothing like a nights sleep in the boat. It was a little cold but I have slept in much colder in a tent while backpacking the Appalachian Trail. Nice hot cup of coffee in the morning is just right to watch the sunrise.

Good sleeping temps I say. Better than the sweltering heat of the summer. Makes that coffee that much better in the morn.
Agreed, there is nothing like being on the water at night.
Sounds like you had a great weekend.

--Russ

[Love MACs]

I think we all remember our first time with fond memories And it just gets better with time and age

Allan

[School House Steve]

Jim,

Congratulations on your firsts.

I am reminded of the first night I spent at anchor in my Mac 25. I can still remember like it was yesterday. The wind was starting to pick up and we had trouble with the roller-furler getting tangled up. Some one had to go up to the bow and roll the sail in by hand. After running aground a little bit we dropped the hook and had dinner. The wind got stronger and stronger and the boat started moving back and forth over and over again. We spent three hours in the cockpit watching the lights on shore trying to decide if the anchor was holding before going to bed. On shore nearby we could see the flashing lights of rescue vehicles. I went to bed but didn''t sleep thinking to my self this isn't like the pictures you see in Sail magazine. Little did we know that a major storm was blowing in over the Pacific Northwest that would take the lives of 14 boaters from Alaska to the mouth of the Columbia River that night. Three of which were lost within a couple of miles of our location.
Wallula Gap is a basalt ridge,where the Columbia river flows through a narrow opening with cliffs on either side going up 1000 feet. The area acts like a huge funnel which intensifies the force of the wind blowing up the river. A group of four people, a woman, her son, her boy friend and her father, in a small power boat began their trip through the gap with plenty of beer but not enough fuel for the return trip. Coming back the motor quit and they got caught in the storm. The boat captized but there were only adult sized life jackets, so the young boy didn't get one that fit properly. Every one tried to make a swim of it for shore, the man and woman made it to shore safely, but her father washed up on shore dead. In his hands death-grip was the boys empty life jacket.
The boy friend saw a train coming so he tried in vain to flag it down for help but it didn't stop. Another train came along and he said "This time I'll get it to stop" so he laid down on the tracks. That train didn't stop either. The next morning we saw the Coast Guard out searching for the boys body as we now heard the news on the radio. When I got home that evening I turned on the TV to watch the news only to see the wrecked power boat that had washed up on the shore and in the background was my boat sailing along.
That week end taught me alot about being extra careful on the water and how close we are to potential disaster.

Take care and boat safely.

SHS