At long last, my 50^th sail on the Javelin had arrived. Saturday morning, I had had about all  of my job that I could stand. I had to get away. The forecast was for 8 mph winds @ 11:00 then 9 mph for the rest of the day, all out of the NW. The downer was a prediction of 97 degrees, but PC with only a 20% chance of rain. Sounded delicious! When I hear 9 mph, I usually see 10-12 mph on the lake, which is the sweet spot for the javelin.
I was delayed somewhat because a Wildlife officer set up shop in the parking lot checking safety equipment on boats. Beth at home, and I on site, spent some time looking for the boat registration. We never found it. The wildlife officer did not ask for the registration or check my boat. I did get him to take my picture sitting in the boat. I launched a little after 11:00 with a strange new problem. The wind was blowing off the land straight down the dock. When I set up for port tack, it shifted to starboard. When I crossed to starboard, it shifted to port. I finally just let go of the dock, drifted out, found a broad reach, and sailed out. I gradually changed from broad reach, to beam to close haul. I was under the lee of the point until I reached the channel, where I saw the white caps. The chop was 18” to 24”. Winds varied from 10-13 mph out of the NW. During the trip, I faced 3 foot waves that slapped the bow up and down. The spray as the boat cut through the waves was thrilling! During the trip the bumpers were knocked off and the bow line was rocked into the water. I recovered it during a lull.

There were a lot of wind shifts and puffs were in the mid to upper teens. I was able to start on the west side of the lake and tack at a long angle across to the east. Then I would tack almost straight across, then back to the long angle. I was spilling a little air because of the strong puffs. Sometimes I could sail on a beam reach. I moved rapidly NE passing Gordon’s Island about 11:30 and the next island about 11:45. By 12:30 I had reached the Lake Norman Yacht Club. There were few boats on the lake by then. The winds were becoming increasingly variable. Lulls were down to 8 or 9 mph with stronger puffs in the upper teens. Then, a little passed the yacht club, I had my first potential knock down. The water was up to the gunwale. I kept turning the boat into wind, but the wind shift was huge. I finally sensed that I may be going over. I yanked the jib sheet and the boat settled. I rode out the puff, then continued NE. The winds became more variable, dropping to 4-5 mph and then blowing to the upper teens. I had another potential knock down and I yanked the jib sheet again! On my map, I saw that I was reaching the end of the wide part of the lake. I saw a mile marker. I decided that I would pass the marker then turn for the dock. Several times, I tacked to sail up stream and every time, the wind would shift and I would end up sailing almost straight across the lake, making little progress up wind. Finally, I decided to give it one more try. I tacked in the middle of the lake and it worked (almost). I was sailing on a close haul, straight toward the marker with land to starboard. I was between a rock and a hard place. The wind shifted slightly and I sailed between marker D 10 and the shore. After several hundred yards, I came about, jibed (my only successful jibe of the trip) and started toward the dock. It was just after 2:00 pm.

Shortly thereafter, the wind died for the first time. I bobbed around for a few minutes, then I was on my way, under shifting winds of 7-9 mph with higher puffs. I would sail about a ½ mile anywhere between a broad reach and a close haul, mostly on a beam, then the wind would die again. As I approached the Lake Norman Yacht Club, I was running out of water again. I decided to jibe. Winds were about 9 mph. I pulled in the main sheet, started the jibe and the boom crossed over. About the time that the jibe was complete, there was a huge wind shift and a blow. The boat swung around 18O degrees and pointed into the wind. I was pretty violent!! I sailed on, on a close haul. Then the wind died in front if the yacht club. Two teen agers in 12’ Lasers approached me. I talked with them awhile, trading info about our boats. It was then about 3:00. Then I headed toward the dock. The winds continued to lull to almost nothing and puff into the teens, but generally around 8 or 9 mph. My hike out pads had ridden up in my pants to where they were ineffective. I could not get them down. I spent the rest of the trip, sitting on the gunnel bruising my bottom. I was pretty sore.

Nearing marker D5 I was running out of water again. I had the D5 marker and the shoal marker to starboard. I decided to jibe. The jibe again appeared to be successful, the same thing happened again. I had a huge wind shift. The jib sheet slipped off the cleat and the figure eight knot failed! The jib went flogging off into the wind!. The boat swung violently around and pointed into the wind. It had also drifted about 100 yards away from the marker. I had to pull in the starboard jib sheet in until I could grab the reach the port sheet that was flogging in the wind. I reset the sheet in the cleat and continued the journey on close haul.

I sailed across the channel, setting course to round the point, sailing mostly on a beam. Once around the point, I sailed in on a close haul. I dropped the main a couple hundred yards out and sailed in on the jib. The wind died a couple of times. I had to hail a boat that was about to take my leeward slot on the dock. They were kind enough to move the windward side. With one more slight puff, I glided into the dock for a perfect landing around 4:00 pm. What a ride!! I was sore and tired, with a headache and a sore bottom, and extremely dehydrated.

I pulled the boat out and parked beside another much larger sailboat being derigged. I started up a conversation with the guy who was wearing a hat and shirt from an unmentionable school. We discussed the trip on the lake. I found out that he had been given the boat that very day. He had sailed on smaller boats but never one this large before. It was an O’Day 222 1986. Then he saw my Calvary Church sticker on my truck and asked me if I go to Calvary. I told him yes and asked his name. It was Kyle,  the son of a friend at church.  I warned him about the trees in front of him in case he was about to pull forward with his mast up. He then admitted that he had planned to drive the boat down the street to find a storage place. He asked if there would be trees on the way out. I responded: Power lines!. I then met his wife Margaret. She asked me if I was Hope’s dad. She and Hope had been in youth group together. Small world.

Weather stats: Maximum sustained wind: 18 mph. Maximum gust: 25 mph. So much for 9 mph!

The Jubilee sail was quite an adventure. I will need to recover a few days before I try it again. My pressure job continues. While on the boat, I received a call from a restaurant that we finished a month ago saying that there was a leak in the kitchen again. I dispatched a plumber while on the lake. Today, Sunday, they called again to say that the water heater had quit for the 4^th time. Tomorrow will be another day in paradise.

Monday morning, my customer could not make up her mind about a faucet on my jobsite. I put the word out that this would probably the last adventure for the season.  No positive reponses. The weather bureau predicted nearly record high temperatures of 84 with 5-10 mph wind and no rain. Weather Channel went down over night, but their last prediction was 8 mph. I have come to understand this summer that their predicted speed was the lull speed. This understanding was definitely true today.

I started the rigging process and found that I had lost the protector wire for the rudder. I even looked for it in the parking lot where I had packed up last time. I ended up rigging a piece of cable. Then when I was about to launch, I found that I had not set the lower pental and had to pull the cable and thread a new one. I finally launched about 12:15 into what the weather bureau called an 8 mph wind.

I sailed north around the point an went up the main channel. The theory was that I could sail on a beam in and out of the main channel and only have to tack from the point back to the dock on the return. What I didn’t count on was that the main channel took a dog leg to the north. I was then sailing with the wind again, which meant  that I had to tack back. As I rounded the point, the white caps started up. Wind speeds were 11-12 with gusts to 15 or so. Riding on a beam reach, quickly ran to the west end of the channel, then headed north. I was able to pull in the main before jibing to keep it from radically swinging from one side to the other. A couple of miles up the channel, the boom swung across on a jib, and the mainsheet raked my glasses off my face. At first I thought that they had been swept over board. Then I found the clip on sunglasses on the seat, then found the glasses on the floor aft. I thanked the Lord for preserving my glasses. I need to find a new clip to hold them on. I sailed past mile marker 7, but never saw mile marker 8. It must a have been around the next bend. The scenery was gorgeous. I wish that I could have taken pictures. There was too much wind to handle a camera. I tacked at 1:10 and started back. The wind speed was increasing and the waves were a 12” and above. I let the main out about half way to handle the wind. This meant that my point of sail was inefficient. I was spilling a lot of air. I tacked my way back out to the easterly dog leg, negotiating the shoals at the entrance. Now the winds were 12 to 14 with puffs near 20. I was sailing between a close haul and a beam, with a lot of wind shifts. I tried to sail under the lee of the shore to deminish the power of the wind, but generally I tried to stay on close hall to feather against large puffs. The waves increased to about 18” with 2’ boat wakes. I only saw 3 other sailboats on the lake. One was a catamaran with a grey sail.

As I rounded the point , the waves were increasing and the puffs came more frequently. I decided that it was time to get off the water. I sailed across the channel looking for a layline to the dock. I had to tack because I was approaching a shoal. The tack failed twice because I was spilling too much air. I brought the main in some, and picked up some speed. Then the tack was successful. From then on, at each tack, the wind drove me off my layline. I had to tack 4 or 5 times to get a good layine up wind to the dock. Then I ran on a close haul and ended up slightly down wind the dock. I decided to sail right at the leeward dock then cut into the wind toward the windward dock. The plan worked, almost. I drifted a few feet from the dock then was taken back in the wind. I cut  the boat to port, picked up speed and came aoout again only to come up short again. The third time around, I had enough speed, a little too much actually. I rammed the dock at 2-3 mph.  The boat survived. I used the boat hook to pull into the dock. Once secure, I lead the boat around the dock to the windward side so that the wind would not push the boat away from the trailer. I then backed the trailer close to the dock so that I could pull the boat on the trailer. If my map tracing is accurate, this was one of my longest trips( about 17 miles).  Sailing on a beam in moderate to high winds had a lot to do with the distance.

I did a lot of praying on this trip that the”big one” would not capsize the boat. With water temperatures about 70 degrees, I did not want to swim. The Lord answered that prayer. The weather bureau said that the maximum sustained wind speed was 14 mph and maximum gust was 18 mph. From where I was, 14 was a frequent speed and the puffs were at least 18. I went home tired and sore, but happy.

Thursday, we adjusted schedules and headed to Beatties Ford. The weather services were predicting 12 mph with gusts to 21 out of the southwest. It was just too delicious to pass up. My guest for the day was again Alan. We launched about 12:00 noon. The wind was blowing about 14 mph at launch with white caps.

We quickly found out that the wind was blowing hard, very hard. We had difficulty tacking. We were spilling a lot of wind to keep us from capsizing. Because we let the sails out, we could not point up higher.  We sailed south toward the nuclear power plant. We wind came in waves with long puffs and short lulls. The waves were 12” to 18” with a few 24” after large boats passed by. There were almost no clouds in the sky. The wind kept increasing as we sailed toward an island, then tacked to starboard. We sailed toward a shoal marker on a close haul on port tack. We went to the lee of the marker but the wind was so relentless that I did not feel comfortable about tacking. We were running out of water, so I decided to come about and run back. When we turned, we came back to a beam reach. The wind hit us hard as the boom swung around the boat lunched over and water came over the slash rail on the seat. We thought we were going to capsize, but the very stable Javelin turned on into the wind and righted! We brought the boat to a broad reach a very quickly made our way to the middle of the almost 2 mile wide channel. We jibed with some difficultly to center us into the channel. We got a good lay line to the dock and I aimed to windward to the dock. We ran quickly on a beam to the dock, with spray splashing over the bow! We dropped the sails and drifted safely into the dock. We were only out for 1.5 hours. What a crazy ride. I called Beth and she noted the Weather Channel said that the wind was at 19 mph. The Weather Bureau said that the maximum sustained wind was 22 mph and the maximum gust was 28 mph. This was the highest wind speed I have ever been out in, or ever hope to.