Adrift at Sea —Dan’s blog on dankim.com

Early this morning, I took the Pretty Gee out on Buzzards Bay. It was the first time I’ve taken her out single-handed. Once out on Buzzards Bay, I put up the main sail with two reefs in. After sailing for about 45 minutes under just the mainsail, I decided to head back in. The waves were getting a bit bigger, and with the wind out of the southwest, there was considerable distance for the waves to build over. The wind also seemed to be getting stronger, and I’m not at the point where I am comfortable single-handing her under those conditions.

Once back inside the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier, things were much calmer, but still with a strong southwest wind. I headed up past the New Bedford-Fairhaven Swing Bridge, and up the Acushnet River. The amas on the Pretty Gee are still very stiff and haven’t been worked enough to open and close easily—getting the amas retracted single-handed is a bit of work. After closing the amas, I took the Pretty Gee back to the marina. Getting her into the marina slip with a 15-20 knot wind blowing was challenging, but after two false starts, I was able to swing her right into her home berth. Having the centerboard down about a third of the way is essential. Without the centerboard down, the Pretty Gee doesn’t track well, and the bow gets blown all over the place—with it down, she tracks pretty well, and is much more manageable.

I’m really still learning about her, as she’s still a new and unknown boat to me. It will probably be a few months before I really have her set up the way I want, and it will take those same months to become familiar with how she handles under power and sail in different conditions. I look forward to the challenge though.

There have been a few changes to the boat setup that I am considering making. As I get more familiar with the boat, I should have a better idea of what changes are going to be necessary.

One of the possible changes is running some of the control lines back to the cockpit. The lines I will probably run back are the main halyard, the topping lift, and the reefing lines. Another small modification that needs to be made is a traveler control block system. This is going to be a bit more complicated than it is on most other boats, as the Telstar has a curved mainsheet traveler track. The curved track complicates the setup, but I think I have a possible solution. I hope to mock it up tomorrow and see if it is feasible.

I also think a stern anchor setup is a good idea. The outboard was a bit balky this morning, and having a stern anchor setup might be a good alternative for those moments when it fails in close quarters. I’ll probably move the stock Danforth anchor to the stern—for use as a kedge and a stern anchor—once the Rocna is installed up front.