The longest weekend ever.

[whiterk]

This past Friday a friend and I planned an overnight of sailing and a little fishing on my CD Ty. We left work early around noon and loaded up the boat and set sail around 3pm and had a beautiful wind of about 7mph out of the south. At sunset the wind dropped off as forecasted, we motored over to a fishing spot for about an hour until the wind was forecasted to pick back up. We hosted sails around 9:45 and we were off on a very nice wind. We then decided we would head over and tie up at the boardwalk for a beer. By the time we made it over the wind had picked up to 13mph and the water started to whitecap. We had already drop the sails and prepared to tie up but we were getting beat against the pier and decided to raise the sails. The slugs had came out of the mast because the screw had been stripped and the cover was off, no idea what it’s called, anyway the main sail was flapping in the wind. This happened at point number 1 on the map. I raised the jib but it did no good as the wind was now out of the north and pushing us toward the pier and beach. As we left the end of the pier we ended up at point number 2 on the map and beached. The water was treating us pretty rough. We jumped off and grabbed the dock line and went to point number 3 on the pier and pulled and finally got the boat off the beach and floating again. We tied off with the boat facing into the wind and waves. The motor would not crank as we have had problems with the carburetor. At 12:30 at night we decided we weren’t going to get the motor cranked. We couldn’t sail away from the pier because as soon as we would cast off we would be right back on the beach again. What to do? Forecast has the wind unchanging for the next 10 days. The next morning I drove back out to the boat and the line had broke and the boat was back on the beach and it was low tide. DANG! It was another 1.5 hrs until peak low tide and its 11am. I spent most of the day on the boat trying to fix the motor and it wouldn’t run reliably enough to risk trying to motor out. At 4pm the boat was floating again and I was able to pull the boat back out and tie up again. I called a sailing friend of mine and explained my situation and he was there within 10 minutes. We worked to pull the boat against the strong wind and waves to point 4 on the map. I jumped in the boat and my friend tried to keep the boat pointed in the right direction and push me out from the pier. The boat immediately starting turning broadside. I raised the main sail and able to escape the pier and heading in the planned direction of NW. With the wind full in my sail I was unable to get it all the way hoisted. Still struggling with escaping the pier and worrying about blowing back into shore I tacked back NE and was feeling a little better that I was going to be successful. When I was confident that I was ok I pointed the boat into the wind and hoisted the main and jib all the way up. Ugg. Another lesson was about to be learned. So now I’m sailing into a 14mph wind and the boat is now heeled way over and I’ve got the rudder pulled as far over and I can trying to maintain my planned coarse. She’s not responding well. Lesson I quickly learned is that I need to reef my main sail but I’m new to sailing this is only my second time on a sailboat and I know nothing about reefing and I know I have nothing to reef with. I make it out to my planned point to change direction and go under an over passing road. As I get the boat on a steady course to make it under the bridge a gust of wind would come along and over power the boat and I had to turn her into the wind. This happened about 7 times before successfully making it under. Once I made it under the wind dropped off and it was great sailing with good response. It’s now 6pm and just past sunset and now I’m about 500yds from the boat ramp. I ran aground again. Now im surrounded by water and aground. Lucky for me guy was watching from his back patio and saw what happened and ran out to help me for 20 minutes to push the boat back out. Finally my adventurous weekend was over and I was loading the boat onto the trailer. This was my second time ever on the boat and second time ever on a sailboat. I learned a lot of things the hard way.

[Jeff and Sarah]

I'm glad you are safe. Why would you plan an overnight sailing trip when you do not know how to sail? Keep in mind you are putting emergency responders at risk too if you end up needing them (I am one of them). I recommend you hire/bribe a sailing instructor to accompany you in the future. You may have learned some lessons over the weekend but you do not sound ready to head back out again on your own.

[tjr818]

Lots of great lessons there! It takes some people years to have all of those "opportunities". Take the time to think over everything that you did right AND those things where you could have done better. Do the maintenance on the motor,fix the mast gate and get ready for the next lesson. Boy oh boy, do I remember those days. You have a great boat. Take care of her and she will take care of you.

[Carl Thunberg]

The one thing that stands out to me, is that your boat broke free of the dock overnight. You will want to read up on proper use of spring lines, fenders, and properly sized dock lines. If anyone had exercised marine salvage rights, they could have claimed your boat while it was broken free. Right or wrong, the law is on their side. At a minimum they can charge you whatever rate they feel is appropriate for their "services".

A reliable outboard engine should be considered in the same category as safety equipment. The off-season is the time to get your outboard professionally serviced.

Assuming north is up on the aerial photograph, it's no wonder you couldn't get yourself away from the dock if you were trying to sail NW. Given the orientation of the dock at point no. 1, there is no way you could sail in a westerly direction with the wind out of the north. Your chances of success were better if you had sailed east. You mention pulling the tiller hard over and the boat still heeling way over. It's called weather helm and it happens when you are over-powered. Cape Dories sail very well under jib alone. If you find yourself over-powered, which you clearly were, your first and best approach is to reduce sail area by reefing or dropping the main altogether.

Finally, you probably don't want to hear this, but 14 mph winds are just not that strong. They're actually ideal sailing conditions. How confident are you in your estimate of wind speed?