Sail away

Fuggles hit the water with sails for the first time today. Such was the excitement that I took not a single photo. But believe me, we got a nice afternoon of sailing in. After arriving at the boat ramp, I rigged the mast and sails, and then we launched at the ramp. I hoisted the main, and it was relatively easy this time to run it completely up with no binding, and with the gunter yard right on the mast. We sailed away slowly at first, but little puffs of wind came, giving us momentum, and then dying. Finally, after about half an hour, we got a fairly steady light breeze, which allowed us to practice our tacks. We beat to windward up the length of the lake just in time for the wind to die again. About that time, we heard some distant thunder, even though the sky above us was quite clear. But we decided to turn around and head for the boat ramp. As we ran down wind, the thunder built, and it became time to break out the oars. I rowed from the forward seat, hunkered down slightly to clear the main boom. We managed to get back to the dock just as the first dark clouds appeared. By the time I got the car and trailer, waited my turn at the ramp, and loaded up Fuggles, things were really looking ominous, although a fresh breeze was kicking up. We got on the road for home and were treated to some rain and a spectacular lightning show just to our south. A good introduction to Passagemaker dinghy sailing; I look forward to many more outings.

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