I tried the spinnaker out for the first time on Sunday. It worked great. Possible too good because before I knew it I was quite a few miles downwind and then needed to tack back up wind to get back to the launch place before sun-down. They lock up the place where I launched from at sunset. York River State Park Croaker landing. Next time I will go upwind first, then downwind for the return trip.
The wind started out slight but built up all afternoon. I was hitting about 9 miles per hour with the spinnaker up and around 6 taking back upwind partially reefed. The main hull is so narrow that it is deceptively fast. There is hardly any splash.
I was wearing my new MSR mission dry suit (event) and it worked great. Never over-heated and could easily launch the boat with stepping into the water up to my knees while staying dry. Gave peace of mind if I happened to flip the boat away from shore.
It took me a while to get the hang of all the various lines and to keep them untangled in the cockpit. I had loosened the rudder pin but the bungee still isn’t keeping the rudder all the way down. The manufacturer has mentioned a possible rudder upgrade coming down the road. I’ll definitely look into that.
I hope to get a go-pro camera to take some fun videos sailing.
