Nice little story from David Chamness. Just nice text ... no pics ....
I took "Whack Whack" (pic from launching day) out to Victoria Landing the other day for a sail. The
conditions were light and variable, with short periods of decent wind
interspersed with longer periods of light or non-existent wind. The lady at the
State Park entry gate smiled smugly as I came through and paid my $4.00 entry
and parking fee. "Taking your little sailboat out again?" she asked. It's nice
to be noticed.
I got two other comments from people as I was setting up to launch. One guy
said, "You must be the bravest guy here." and "I wouldn't go out in anything
that small." I explained that it is actually quite large enough for my
purposes, and support much more weight than I need. I let him know I've had the
entire family out in the boat before. He was, um, skeptical.
The wind was blowing in nice and steady, at maybe 10 knots, while I stepped the
mast and stowed the gear in the boat. Since the wind was blowing pretty much
directly into the boat ramp, I didn't raise sail until after I had parked my
truck and paddled the boat away from the dock.
I put the dagger board down and raised my sprit sail and was immediately off,
sailing directly past the end of the ramp. Oops. I know sailboat have the right
of way over power boats in open water, but I've got a feeling cutting people off
while they are coming into the boat ramp is frowned upon. Fortunately, I was
only there for a couple of minutes.
I sailed Northwest on a broad reach, all the way to the opposite shore, all of
about a thousand meters. I decided against turning to the southwest, since that
would mean heading downwind, on a day when the wind was suspect, so I came
around almost 180 degrees and sailed back towards the beach (just northeast of
the boat ramp.)
Just after I made my turn and was feeling good, the wind died. Well, not died,
exactly, but dropped to just a whisper. I was amazed that even in wind I could
barely feel, I was still able to make some forward progress. Okay, so it was
only a knot or two, but but I was still moving.
It was a beautiful day, and the lake was fairly busy, especially right around
Victoria. Quite a few boats passed me as I was making my way back, some of them
fairly large. It's humbling realizing that the wake off of a 30 foot cabin
cruiser is larger than the sides of my homemade boat.
Being new to sailing a Puddle Duck, I wasn't sure how much of a "sea" my boat
could take without being swamped. I shouldn't have worried. Whack Whack was
stable and uncaring. The wind picked up and I felt her surge forward as the
mast creaked with the new strain. I fairly flew forward and became a moving
target to the motorized traffic. I must have been going five knots! The spray
off the bow was almost as impressive as the sound of the foils cutting through
the water.
Just as I reached the little island that marks the western edge of the swimming
area, the wind died again. Have you ever tried to tack with no wind? It's...
embarrassing; I had to use my paddle.
Over the next two hours, I worked my way back and forth across the channel,
making my way upwind with each tack. Okay, so I could have done it in about five
minutes in my pontoon boat, but where's the fun in that?
All told I spend almost four hours on the water. It was my very first long
sailing session on the new boat. I had a blast. I know sailing the Puddle Duck
is old hat to most of the guys on this forum, but it's new to me. I don't have
access to coastal waterways, steady winds, or long sails to the Caribbean, so
this will have to do. So far, in my limited experience, it's doing the trick.
stolen from the worldwide PDR forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pdracer/message/29844
From Al Zuger in Brooklyn, NY who is extending the envelope of operating his PDRacer.
Theodor cam to rescue. 