Posted by Peter Devlin (devlin_peter@…>)
Hey Clarke,
I just looked at your recently posted pictures of “Teke’s Pride”, and I
must say you did a heck of a job. She’s gorgeous. The mainsail picture
looks like it was really honking out there. Did you race or just
cruise? Again, terrific job and I sure do like your name for her better
than the old one ;).
Peter Devlin
Posted by Clark Myers (cdmyers1@…>)
Thanks Peter,
As you can see from the photos, I got impatient to be on the water so
I have not yet painted the rudder to match the new hull color. The
bottom can wait until next summer’s doldrums to be painted, as
my “Pride” is trailer sailed.
The Race was Saturday but I could not make the start area in time as
winds were light and variable and I was using a 50# thrust trolling
motor, which is great for coming in and out of the marina but not for
going 2 miles to the race course. I was 18 minutes behind by the
time I reached the Committee Boat and I hailed them and asked to be
marked as a DNS for the race. I stayed in the area and watched the
other 6 boats race and planned on joining them for the 2nd race. The
wind died for about 10 minutes on the AC leg of the ABCACX course but
came back enough for the race to end. I sailed within hail of the
committee and inquired about the 2nd race and was told they were
calling it a day. All the boats sailed around for a few minutes and
then started back to the marina on down wind runs. As one would
expect about 5 min. later the wind was blowing steady in the 5 to 10
mph range. I launched the spinnaker and, as I was sailing solo, I
stood clamping the tiller between my legs and grabbed the spinnaker
reins in my hands (there are photos of this taken from one of the
other boats, but I have not yet received them). The Freedom 21’s
performance downwind is everything you folks have been telling me
about and even better than I had hoped!
Sunday dawned with winds in the 10 to 15 mph range with gusts in the
low 20s. I went to church and lunch before driving the 40 minutes
from my home to the marina. I decide to switch out the electric
motor for the outboard I bought with the boat. I had never tested
the motor (a 1985 Johnson Sailmaster 8hp) and as one would expect she
did not start. I swapped the motors again and found a young man who
really wanted to sail to act as crew (I don’t trust myself solo in
this kind of wind yet especially as I almost killed myself in Feb
sailing in this kind of weather solo on my JY15).
The 50 lb. thrust trolling motor had no problem moving us out against
the 14-mph head wind. I could not wait to hoist the main with a
single reef and wasted no time doing so. As we bore away port (there
is a powerboat marina and a causeway close to starboard when leaving
Browns Creek Sailing Marina) I regretted my impatiens. We had only
gone about 50 yards when I ran the boat aground on a submerged
island. Luckily it is a mud bottom so no damage was done to the
shoal keel. I was worried as the larger waves were causing her to
bang on the bottom. The trolling motor was not up to the task of
pulling us off. I spent some time heaving out the anchor and trying
to pull us off but I did was harvest a lot of fresh water mussels off
of the lake bottom. Josh and I finally jumped into the less than 2’
of water and walked her off the bottom. We motored out a safe
distance to windward and continued our daysailing. I didn’t get the
expected ribbing when we got back to the marina but was told it
happened to just about everyone once. The ribbing was reserved for
those unlucky or foolish few who repeated the mistake.
Josh and I worked well together and I asked him to crew for me the
rest of the race season (mainsail picture was taken at this time).
After an hour of fun I pointed the bow for home on a downwind run
straight for the marina’s mouth. I handed the tiller over to Josh
and hoisted the spinnaker. The mainsail was on the wrong side to
allow the spinnaker to fill properly and still steer a course for the
marina. I did not want to jib the boom in this wind so I retrieved
the spinnaker. We were still making good way and Teke’s Pride was
keeping pace about 3 feet in front of the following waves. About 200
yards out from the breakwater I decided to drop the main while
maintaining course. Have any of you ever done this on a run in 10
mph wind? I went forward and pulled the sail down by the luff, hand
over hand (let me tell you the battens tend to bend around the lazy
jacks under these conditions). As I finished sorting the main out
between the lazy jacks, I glanced up to see the bow pass the
breakwater and into the mouth of the marina; we continued sailing
under bare poles straight up to the transient pier. At the last
minute Josh was able to lower the trolling motor and turn us 90
degrees and lay us along side the pier. I was able to step off, and
using only some of my weight, stop the last of the boat’s forward
momentum. If we had planned it we could not have performed this feat
of seamanship! By all rights we should have either plowed into the
pier or come up yards short!
I took the outboard to the repair shop this morning. With Josh’s
help and a working “iron jib” I hope to make the start of next
Saturday’s race.
Clark Myers
Teke’s Pride
Hull #345
— In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Peter Devlin” <devlin_peter@…>
wrote:
Hey Clarke,
I just looked at your recently posted pictures of “Teke’s Pride”,
and I
must say you did a heck of a job. She’s gorgeous. The mainsail
picture
looks like it was really honking out there. Did you race or just
cruise? Again, terrific job and I sure do like your name for her
better
than the old one ;).Peter Devlin
Posted by Allen McClung (amcclung@…>)
Where are the pix posted, please?
— In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Peter Devlin” <devlin_peter@…>
wrote:
Hey Clarke,
I just looked at your recently posted pictures of “Teke’s Pride”,
and I
must say you did a heck of a job. She’s gorgeous. The mainsail
picture
looks like it was really honking out there. Did you race or just
cruise? Again, terrific job and I sure do like your name for her
better
than the old one ;).Peter Devlin
Posted by Clark Myers (cdmyers1@…>)
Allen,
Go to www.freedom21.info and click on “Online Discussion”. From the
menu on the left side of the screen, click on “Photos”. My photos
are posted in the album marked “Hull #345”. All of my photos of the
restoration so far are in this folder along with captions and
descriptions.
One of the nice features of the Yahoo Groups home page is
the “Activity within 7 days:” header. This header includes links
for “New Members”, “New Messages”, “New Photos”, and “Polls”. You
can, for now, access my photos directly by clicking on “New Photos”
but they may not have the complete or edited descriptions attached.
Yahoo Groups also allows one to create albums and post ones own boat
photos. I would love to some shots of your F21!
Clark Myers
Teke’s Pride
Hull #345
— In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Allen McClung” <amcclung@…>
wrote:
Where are the pix posted, please?
— In freedom21@yahoogroups.com, “Peter Devlin” <devlin_peter@>
wrote:Hey Clarke,
I just looked at your recently posted pictures of “Teke’s Pride”,
and I
must say you did a heck of a job. She’s gorgeous. The mainsail
picture
looks like it was really honking out there. Did you race or just
cruise? Again, terrific job and I sure do like your name for her
better
than the old one ;).Peter Devlin