Bigger water and the Clearwater

A long fetch coming straight up the river, out of the south, force 3 to force 4
                    close hauled, the flat bottomed hull wants to pound when we drop off the wave tops and land in the troughs
I try to steer us to softer landings                We tack and come off the wind sailing into the Marina basin
We ghost along UNICORN, the hands on deck wave and say hello
we come back on our course to sail under The CLEARWATER and the crew waves and admires the little red skiff
                    Back out in the river and we run back up to the next bay, our home, the rolling waves lifting the stern
the main sheet eased out            I worried about control off the wind but needn't be.  It's a fun ride back home

On the approach to the dock I decide that I'm not ready to be done for the day and veer off and sail up to the light house as the sun gets low in the sky
even in the gusts the little sail seems to pull the boat along but not over press it
            It's just the right size for this kind of sailing          We sail right up to the dock and I reach out and loop the painter around a cleat.  3or 4 hours of easy, fun, sweet sailing, running, close hauled, beam reach, spray
This boat fits kind of like a kayak fits.

DDP Clearwater

rowing boat-sail boat

Glassy river, so just a row
to the point, to the light house
and back
                    the tide is ebbing and almost slack
row up river and let the current carry me back
                                                                            Out into the channel           the seagulls dive
the surface shimmers and a breeze is on the rise
                            The current helps us home, raise a sail, raise a hope, raise my spirits
at the bow the water sings                 close hauled, ease the sheet come off the wind
make myself comfortable, no shoes, no hat the sun is warm
come about and it's one long tack,
                                    past a beach, past a marina, past a yacht club, past people I go unnoticed
I must be invisible, a ghost ship, bright red hull, big white sail, bright sunshine
no one sees me
                      I'm a ghost, ghosting by right up to the landing with full sail raised
reach out and catch the cleat with my painter. 
A nice breeze is filling in but a couple of hours is enough today, there's always tomorrow, I hope.

I forgot how well this boat rows

row or sail the little skiff is becoming more and more cherished with each outing.  I want to take care of her, get her things, new, longer oars, a tent for the cockpit, better arrangements of everything.  I want to pamper her, which is really pampering me isn't it?
The chair at my desk rises on the swell that the tug that passed me going down river hours ago, left behind.  It's a giddy kind of instability, like a shot of single malt scotch.

A short sail

After having such a lovely time in the morning rowing the pram around the pond, and getting inspiration from the amazingly pleasant weather, I decided that I needed to take the skiff out to the lake and reacquaint myself with her.
Sliding her into the back of the truck, I was reminded of how handy this boat is.  I drove to the closest of the lakes and launched there.  The breeze was up so I prepped the sailing rig.

Lake sailing.  This is the original cut of the sail
that is larger than the current sail.  The sprit is shorter now too.

We sailed the down the Western shore of the lake, the wind was out of the south.  A few little gusts kept me paying attention, especially as the water is cold again, and, there was nobody else on the lake, or it's shores.  When I reached the north end of the lake, where the sand beach is, I changed heading, gybing easily with the sprit rig and sailed across the wind skirting the beach along the entire north end to the eastern side where the dam is.  I beached the boat, dropped the sailing rig and rowed up the eastern shore.
On the southern end of the lake there are two large coves, or bays and I rowed up into the western bay and set the sailing rig back up so I could finish my circumnavigation with a sail back up the western shore to the launch site.
After hauling the boat from the water I spotted a set of antlers and the head of a deer swimming across the bay to get to the land on the other side.  He didn't need oars, but he could have easily set sails on that rack.  It was great to see him come out of the water and shake off before hopping right into the woods.
It was a nice way to end my sail.
Sailing along the sand beach was great fun and had such a different quality than sailing the  rest of the lake.  The beach was the lee shore today and the waves washed up on it making a sound and sight as if it were a much bigger bit of water I was upon.  Sailing along, with the bottom insight, sloping and sandy and the beach moving by quickly, was a bit exciting.
I have come to realize how much more pleasant it is to sail this boat with a minimum of complications.  The lovely rudder I built for it is not an improvement over using the oars as steering oars, each perched in it's after most oarlock.  It easy to switch between the two, or to just start using them both to row.  I still miss the ease at which the boat moved in light airs with the larger sail, but I do enjoy being able to sail in stronger wind.
I did not try to sail to windward at all, and being of the mind to row to wind kept me from worrying over a thing that this boat does not do well.
It was a very lovely day, a very "boaty" day and all in the middle of November to add.

While rowing the skiff I found that I should probably take the time to make a new middle thwart, just a bit wider to accommodate my big fat backside.  I made the thwarts the way I did, loose fitting so that they could be adjusted until the optimum position could be found, and so that the could be easily removed for sailing or lying on the floors.  This has all worked but I do sometimes wish that they were fastened tight so that there was one less thing to fuss over.  The middle thwart, the rowing thwart, needs to be about 6-10 inches farther foreward than I originally thought.  This would also have the affect of moving the bow down a touch, which would be a positive improvement.
I have decided that one of the things I don't like about this design is that the bow sits proud of the water.  This does certainly cause it to pound into the waves and it also gives much more area for the wind to get hold of her.  Instead of a sharp fine entry to the water she has a wide bottom that does help her to plane up over the water and makes her more maneuverable, but at the same time, takes away her ability to track.
In looking at the GOAT ISLAND SKIFF, which is a well reported sailing skiff,  I think it has less rocker, although  the stem doesn't quite make it down to the water, it exposes much less of the flat bottom to the oncoming water.
I do realize that by putting the sailing rig on this boat I was trying to get something out of it that it was not intended to do.  That being said, I have had some success getting her to sail.  She did better in lighter airs with the bigger sail, obviously, but she also seemed to go to weather a tiny bit better with that larger sail, probably due to the affect of the wind on the hull being so much less able to cause leeway.  But off wind and across the wind and in stronger wind, the current sail is much more comfortable to use.  I think it could be a bit longer at the foot, though the sheet lead would quickly become an issue, but it needs no more height on such a narrow beamed boat.
Although I do want to build a boat specifically for sailing and it may not be much different in form from this skiff (MAYBE THE GOAT ISLAND SKIFF)  I may still get the centerboard drunk installed and build a taller mast.
It was good to be out in her again.  It had been a while.  It was truly wonderful to have gotten to sail her.

The most pleasing sound of the day was when I heard the first bubble of the water along her hull as her sail started to pull and she began to make way.

Brailed up

sailing QTx skiff

Sprit rig skiff
no rudder
no daggerboard
steering by the mainsheet and bodyweight!
dead simple

summer sailing

skiff on the lake on a perfect summer day.

She sails

Today I took WHISP out to the lake and tested her sailing rig.  She sails.  Success and surprise.  The surprise is that she sails without the use of any added underwater parts (centerboard or rudder) and that she even sails to windward this way.

At first I was using the oars for steering, that was awkward but somewhat affective.  While going forward to take up on the snotter for the sprit yard I noticed that my body weight moving affected the track of the boat.  I had the mainsheet made fast to the cleat and moving forward caused the boat to head up into the wind.  Moving aft caused it to fall off.  I also noticed that leaning to leeward could add to the affect of heading up and leaning to windward caused us to fall off the wind.

I also think that the external chine has a large affect on reducing the boats leeway.

I was able to tack the boat thru the wind twice, simply by moving all the way forward and to leeward until the boat came about, then moving back aft as the sail filled on the opposite tack.  I was really amazed.  I did miss a tack completely once, but used the oars, which were at the ready, to easily move the boat around.

The nicest thing about this is the freedom of clutter in the boat and the simplicity.  No center/dagger board, or leeboard to deal with.  No tiller.  I was able to lie prone with my head on a boat cushion and the mainsheet in my hand and by simply moving my feet from one side of the boat to the other and leaning my body a tiny bit, was able to steer a coarse.  Another thing is I had no worries about catching the under body on a rock.

I hope to post some pics or vids of the boat underway in the next week.

I think I will build a rudder for the boat in case of being out in stronger winds and needing to use my body weight more robustly.  I may also try a leeboard as well.  I can always not use them if I find I don't need them.

I am very happy that the sail worked out.  The shape of it was pretty good for making it out of a reclaimed old jib from my 27 footer.  The sprit rig seemed much simpler to use than the lug rig I had used on a dink I had set up a year or so ago.

It is nice to be sailing in one of my own boats once again.