Any advice on the centerboard problem in the first part of the write up would be appreciated.
The sail. I was able to free up Thursday and Friday before Memorial day and decided to explore the Chester river area of the Chesapeake Bay. I launched at Kent Narrows, the ramp was at a shallow angle and I don't have a tongue extender. My centerboard has been sticking in the well after being trailered. It used to be that if I put slack in the pennant after the boat was on the trailer and rested the CB on the keel roller it would work fine the next launch. I don't know what changed over the winter (mouse nest?) but the board wouldn't drop. Last fall I could free up the board by diving under the boat and wiggling it free after 5 or 6 dives. So I move the boat back about 4 inches on the trailer so the board could partially drop. I then pulled the boat back on to the ramp and wiggled the CB with a 2x4. The board dropped so I backed even farther into the water and launched. After I parked the trailer and got into the boat the board was stuck full up again!!! It must have bounced on the keel roller and wouldn't drop. Since I was going down wind almost all day I proceeded to sail with the board up. Had a great 16 nm sail downwind all the way up Langford Creek. With the working jib on a whisker pole and the main out all the way and the helm lashed I didn't touch the tiller for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. I could (and did) steer by shifting my weight inboard or outboard. With the bright blue sky, winds between 8 kts and 12 kts, and no power boats, it was heaven. I was cruising in a very relaxed state 100 yards to 1/2 mile off the coast line. At the start of the West Fork of Langford Creek is an Island with a nice sand beach protected from the southerly winds. I decided to beach the boat and heel the boat over enough to wiggle the CB down. I needed it down for the return trip. I dropped my 15 lb CQR with 200 ft of line in deep water, beached the boat and swung it parallel to the beach, put a bow anchor on the beach, put a stern anchor on the beach via the deep water stern cleat. I attached a block to the CQR anchor line out as far as I could stretch, put a block at the end of the main halyard. I then treaded the anchor line through the halyard block and back through the block on the anchor line and back towards the beach. I then hauled on the block and tackle and tipped the boat over enough to get at the CB. It was already down!!! The beaching must have wiggled it free. I could raise and lower it and feel a tight spot as I raised. After a few vigoras up and downs the CB seemed to move freely. Since it was only about 4 pm I continued on to the end of the West Branch of Langford Creek and came a little was back an anchored in Bungay Creek. Nice farm country, lots of Heron and Osprey. A few mosquitos came out when the sun went down so i sacked out early. Slept very well. The Ospreys were the morning entertainment. There were three Osprey hunting at the same time in the same area. One was the hunter, one was the thief and one was the opportunist. The hunter would catch a fish and the thief would attack in mid air to try and steal the fish. After lots of aerobatics and screeching the fish would get free and fall towards the water. The opportunist would catch the fish in mid air and fly off unmolested. It was quite a show. The forecast for Friday was for a west wind 5 - 10 kts. If true it would be a beam reach all the way back. The winds at 8 AM were 8 - 12 kts out of the SW so I went all the way to the end of the East Fork Langford Creek. By 11 AM the winds had swung to the west so I anchored off of Langford Marine on Davis Creek and had lunch and changed into shorts as it was getting warm. I continued on but the wind had increased to a steady 12 kts out of the S. A direct head wind. I had beat into the wind for an hour with GPS reported speeds of 3.5 to 4.2 kts but with 10 deg of leeway. What is the secret to pointing in an M15? I was only making 1 1/2 to 2 kts towards my destination :( I broke down and fired up the Honda 4 stroke and motored most of the way to Kent narrows. All an all a glorious two days. Thanks Doug Kelch M15 #310 "Seas the Day" __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
