The summer has continued with temperatures in the mid to upper 90’s and little wind except during thunderstorms. For the last two weeks, the wind has been good on a Monday, when I had to work. From now until Labor Day, I am out of work. To my delight, The Weather Channel was at last predicting wind, not much, but 7-8 mph for Thursday afternoon. I had a morning appointment, then I headed straight for the lake. No one could go with me today. This would be my third attempt at single handing the boat.

I arrived at Beatties Ford on Lake Norman about 12:15 to see that wind was on the water blowing out of the SW. Flags indicated 8-10 mph. This meant that I would sail toward the dam. The wind was fairly strong by the time I launched at 1:30. I had a bit of trouble getting the boat pointed into the wind.

Once I released from the dock, I sailed out easily on starboard tack paralleling the point. I had to tack several times to keep the wind from driving me to shore. The sky was mostly clear and the water was deep blue with light white caps! I tacked up wind, working my way across the 2 – 3 mile wide stretch of the lake. The winds were getting stronger. The waves were 12 to 15 inches. I thought the wind speed to be about 15 mph with occasional lulls down to about 8 mph. The weather bureau later stated that the maximum sustained wind speed was 14 mph with maximum gust of 24 mph. The big gust came later. I sailed past several islands, hailing a couple of other much larger sailboats as we passed. The wind diminished to around 10 mph. We had occasional short lulls of 5 mph and under; just enough time for me to get something to eat or drink and take a few pictures. As I sailed toward the last island before the dam, I was hit with a strong puff of at least 20 mph. Water was up to the rail, and I turned the
boat into the wind to settle it. I sailed out to the middle of the lake and had another not so strong puff. I decided to turn it around and head to the dock. I came about and the winds calmed down. From there to the dock, winds were 8-12. I received a phone call from my customer stating that the gas company had failed to show up again. This will play a prominent part in “the rest of the story”. I planned my strategy for landing, since twice before, I have crashed my boat on the rocks trying to land at this dock with this wind angle. I came into the dock to windward on a port tack on pointing from a beam to a broad reach. I sailed past the end of the dock about 40 feet out,
then turned the boat sharply to windward, going into irons about 4 feet from the dock. I dropped my sails and the wind drove the boat to the dock on the starboard side. The mainsail hung up and I had to hang on to the dock as the wind tried to drive it to shore down the dock. I got the rope cleated then lowered the main. I was greeted on the dock by 2 grandmothers and there grandchildren, who told me I had the right hat on. They helped hold the boom until I was stable. I was wearing my NC State hat, by the way. I had successfully landed!

I thought the adventure was over. WRONG!
I went to get the trailer, multitasking, calling the gas company about their no show. As I backed up, I forgot about the trailer. The next thing I knew I heard a bang and a crunch. I had jack knifed my trailer, knocking a dint in the side of the truck. I straightend out the truck, and I thought, the trailer. I headed back toward the water, but something looked funny. I stopped short of the water to pull my cable out and discovered that the pipe tongue of the trailer had bent in a beautiful 60 degree arch. The trailer was tracking 3 – 4 feet to starboard! Now what. I called my wife to see if she could bring a sledge hammer. She was in Rock Hill with the grandchildren. I prayed Lord, I need some help on this one. A family that was watching handed me a trailer lock so that, if I had to leave the boat, it would not be stolen. Then the Lord answered my prayer. A large boat was launching. The truck that was pulling it had a sign saying “We repair boats”. I asked the man for a sledge hammer. He said that the sledge hammer would do no good. He recommended that I jack the trailer the other way and push the pipe straight with my bumper. I pulled into the parking lot and returned the lock to the family. They watched as I gently backed the truck against the trailer tongue over and over again until it was relatively straight. Now the tongue has
a slight Z shape. It is offset by a couple of inches. It performed well on the way home. ”And now you know the rest of the story”