Went out for a quick sail today and had a great time! I’ve been doing a lot of work lately on my days off on the v-berth and cabin. While I like the project and the actual work, I certainly don’t want this to be a work boat; it has to be a fun-boat, too! ๐Ÿ™‚

I also wanted to try something out that might help me when I’m singlehanding, so I fashioned a tiller-helper out of three bungee cords. The center one [rubber, so it won’t slip] and the others run to the side for stability. It actually held pretty well, since I really only need it to hold steady for a few seconds while I hoist and lower sails and during tacking while I work the jibsheets.

I used a couple of different apps today to track stats and was very happy with both of them. The first app, My Tracks by Google, is the one that I’ve used since the first day I was sailing. The other app, which most of you are probably more familiar with is the Navionics app. Across both apps, the stats matched up almost perfectly, except that the Navionics app showed a much higher max speed, 6.9 knots compared to 4,7 knots measured on the My Tracks app. The winds were fairly consistent at around 8-10 mph, but was gusting quite often to 26 mph. With those gusts, I decided to reef the main at the first reef point and used a small jib. I really don’t think we hit 6.9 knots, so I’m assuming the Navionics app glitched or missed a waypoint or something. I’ll use it more often and see what kind of stats it gives. I’ll include a screenshot of the two apps side-by-side and then some general photos of our couple of hours on the lake. Hope you enjoy!

Navionics left / My Tracks right

Navionics left / My Tracks right

Today's Route

Today’s Route

My makeshift tiller-helper

My makeshift tiller-helper

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Wish the focus had been on the winch

Wish the focus had been on the winch

Do I look like a sailor yet?

Do I look like a sailor yet?

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