Taylor's texted me on Friday and told me that although he wouldn't be able to make it, that his good friend and sailing "mentor" was coming to town to take the boat out for its maiden sail and to figure things out and that he'd need some help. I thought it was a bit odd that the guy wouldn't be there for his new boat's first sailing excursion but after chatting with the friend learning he's got 40 years sailing experience, of course I showed up Saturday morning with coffees and Tim Hortons breakfast sandwiches, ready to sail.
We needed to install the roller furling genoa that had been taken to the sail loft for repairs, so after breakfast, we jumped into that and got the sail up and tested the furler at the dock. Then it was time to shove off and go sail!
The wind was blowing from the WSW at 10, gusting to 15 mph. Immediately after exciting the marina, Dennis (the 70ish year old "mentor") turned to worn and I raised the mainsail. We sailed for maybe 2 minutes just to get familiar with the traveler and mainsheet then unfurled the 150 genoa. Under full sail, we left Presque Isle Bay and headed out through the channel to Lake Erie. We sailed several miles and turned through the full range of wind to play with points of sail and then motor sailed back into the bay so I could show him areas to avoid and where the best anchorages are. I've abandoned my 26X on anchor for a few days while I repair my trailer so we checked on on it and then went back to the dock.
There weren't any mishaps but there was an inconsequential unintentional jibe at one point. My experience on the boat was overall good but it made me REALLY appreciate the ease of sailing my Macgregors! On the "big" Catalina, the rope clutch for the main halyard didn't hold firm so I ended up using the self tailing winch to keep the halyard tight. That winch should've been for the mainsheet so I had to be creative on routing the mainsheet to other winches. The dodger was in the way of the traveler access a bit but could be worked around. The windvane is positioned in front of the mast and can't be seen from the cockpit. The autopilot want holding course, so Dennis had to constantly hand steer. Other than those items, the Catalina 30 is the biggest boat I've sailed and is a beautiful, stable boat. I enjoyed getting to know the boat and also made a new friend. Dennis is probably 30 years my elder but conversation was easy and I did my best to be a good deckhand.
