John 3:8

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Thursday morning, I went again to Lake Norman, again to the Beatties Ford Access Area. Grace could not come because of VBS. I tried to find several people to come with me to no avail. I decided to single hand the boat for the first time. The wind was prediction was 7 mph by 9 am and increasing to 12 mph by noon then 10 mph for the rest of the day. Officially, that’s about what happened, but not where I was. Accu-weather recorded 10 mph at noon and 13 mph at 1:00 pm. The weather bureau recorded the highest wind speed at 15 mph with the highest gust at 22 mph. That is what I saw starting a 12:05 pm until I landed at almost 1:00 pm. The wind was shifty generally out of the ENE. The sky had puffy little clouds with temperatures of 65 to 90 degrees. A beautiful day!!!!!!!!!!

I took my time setting up, about an hour and ten minutes. I tried a new and better technique for launching. I tied off the bow by looping around the horn cleat at the dock. I let the boat drift with the wind. It was coming in from the lake at about 45 degrees to the dock and very light. This allowed me to let the jib flog and raise the mainsail in irons. Then I just pulled the boat end of the bow line. It slid off the horn cleat and I was under way.

The winds were so light that it took about 5 minutes to move about 25 feet. Then I picked up a lift and moved out into the channel. The dock was partially sheltered by a point to port. Once I came out from the shelter of the point the wind picked up. The winds were varying from almost calm to about 9 mph. This allowed me time to get everything organized and get oriented to single handing the boat. I had a lot of trouble, as usual, making progress up wind. Every time I tacked, there would be a wind shift of 2 or 3 points. It always seemed to be a header. I had very few lifts.

Finally I got a decent lay line to move toward Davidson Creek at the main channel. I decided to go up the main channel for the first time. I was running between a close haul and a beam most of the way. The winds had increased to about 10 mph with some higher gusts that caused me to hike out. I sailed past several islands and some expensive houses. The boat traffic was fairly light, but there were some large boats as well as jet skis. I sailed up near a bridge on Burton Road, then decided that I should head back. As I approached Davidson Creek the winds increased. About 12:05, I saw the first white caps. The waves were increasing as well. I had to tack out to the middle of the channel to get a lay line around the point. As I went on port tack. the wind really picked up. The waves were 18” high will higher swells due to large boat wakes. I was nearly a mile from land in any direction. I let the main out about ½ way sailing on close haul. I decided to come about  and sail for the dock on a broad reach. I let the sail all the way out. I jibed a couple of times with the waves increasing. I got caught in a couple of swells that caused the boat to heel severely to windward. Then the boat started to pitch from port aft to starboard forward.  I knew that this was dangerous and could cause a running capsize. With the sail all the way out I headed up to a beam reach. This stopped the rocking. I was now heading toward the dock.

I sailed into the dock area on the port side of the dock and then turned the boat into the wind. I dropped the main and sailed on the jib straight at the dock. The boat stalled about 10 feet from the dock. I paddled to the dock and threw the bow line around the cleat. A lady on the dock, with her 2 small children who were very interested in the sailboat, helped me tie off the stern.

The next challenge was to trailer the boat. Because of the heavy chop and wind, the boat was bobbing around like a cork. I submerged the end of the trailer in the water. I took the bow line and pulled the boat around to the first roller. Then I pulled the boat up with the winch. My rebuilt trailer, with the fitting tapered bunks, centered the boat and I came up easy. YES! I had successfully launched, sailed, landed, and trailered the boat single handed.

I broke down the rigging in about an hour and ten minutes, with a couple of phone calls for interruptions.  The trip home via Hwy 16 and I 485 was about an hour: much faster than the I 77 route.

It is a lot more fun to go with someone, but I am no longer bound to finding a crew when I want to sail. I was also amazed how fast and far I could go with a stiff breeze and 300 pounds less on board. I went from 3 people to 1 person. The trip was about 9 miles in less than 3 hours.