Tale of Woe and Warning
Gather 'round me hearties as I tell ye a story of woe and warning
about sailing the high seas.
I was up this morning sniffing the weather. Barometer is
falling, winds are from the south 16 mph with gusts to twenty five --
seems like thunder storms to me.
By 1p.m. the skies were partly cloudy. No smell of rain in the
air so I loaded Inscrutable and set off for the lake. An hour of
brisk sailing was quite pleasurable. However, on a run downwind a
gust from the south dismasted me in the middle of the lake about two
miles from the beach. After gathering up the sail and the broken
mast, unshipping the rudder and the leeboard, and pulling out the
oars, I headed back in in the teeth of the wind. Praying the entire
time that I would not be caught in the middle of the lake in a blow --
by then storm clouds were threatening and the wind was up quite a
bit. Rowing into the wind is no picnic. Luckily, the storm held off
as I came safely ashore.
Inspecting the broken mast revealed that it had snapped in two a
few inches above the mast partner where a knot had weakened the wood.
Be sure to use clear grain wood on the mast. Otherwise, you might
find yourself rowing back to port in the teeth of the wind.
All in all, it still wasn't a bad day on the water. It is too
bad that my cruise was cut short. Inscrutable was really moving when
I was dismasted. I love this Featherwind design!
Dennis Marshall, Grand Rapids, MI
about sailing the high seas.
I was up this morning sniffing the weather. Barometer is
falling, winds are from the south 16 mph with gusts to twenty five --
seems like thunder storms to me.
By 1p.m. the skies were partly cloudy. No smell of rain in the
air so I loaded Inscrutable and set off for the lake. An hour of
brisk sailing was quite pleasurable. However, on a run downwind a
gust from the south dismasted me in the middle of the lake about two
miles from the beach. After gathering up the sail and the broken
mast, unshipping the rudder and the leeboard, and pulling out the
oars, I headed back in in the teeth of the wind. Praying the entire
time that I would not be caught in the middle of the lake in a blow --
by then storm clouds were threatening and the wind was up quite a
bit. Rowing into the wind is no picnic. Luckily, the storm held off
as I came safely ashore.
Inspecting the broken mast revealed that it had snapped in two a
few inches above the mast partner where a knot had weakened the wood.
Be sure to use clear grain wood on the mast. Otherwise, you might
find yourself rowing back to port in the teeth of the wind.
All in all, it still wasn't a bad day on the water. It is too
bad that my cruise was cut short. Inscrutable was really moving when
I was dismasted. I love this Featherwind design!
Dennis Marshall, Grand Rapids, MI