My new boat plus learning to sail

[trik77]

So I finally pulled the trigger and purchased a sail boat. I went back and forth between types and sizes and settled on a Sea Pearl 21 Cat Ketch. She has a pop up front cabin, lee boards on both sides and 2x ballast tanks at 25 gallons.

So this is my first sailing boat and my first time learning to sail. I want to start out with my newbie mistakes so that others like myself can avoid what I have done.

On day one first ever sail with a friend I misjudged the current and put the little 2hp Honda propeller into the dock (Its made of plastic no harm was done). Other than that the sailing went okay light winds less then 5mph so not really sailing per say.

On day two I thought that markers meant nothing to me after all my draft is less than a foot... however my engine was down and well yeah after a dirt cloud I was finally able to remove the boat from the sand bar I found. The sailing on this day was much like the first with winds under 5 mph just putting around at 3 mph speed practicing tacking and jibing.

Day three was my first solo sail I managed to back out of the dock with no prob holding both the bow and the stern line in my hand and letting them out as as I left (quite a feet I felt as my engine must be rotated to reverse.) Here is where my first problem came in the winds were around 12-13 mph and I experienced a very hard time beating to windward the boat kept wanting to fall off the wind even with the tiller hard over. I think the issue was not enough weight up front causing excessive lee helm???

On day four which was today I went out again this time with more stuff loaded up front but unbeknownst to me the forecast was wrong... I experienced winds in the 20mph range with gust higher and waves around 2-3 feet. I only put a single rap in the furling main sail (mistake?) and had the mizzen fully out. I should have filled the ballast tanks adding an extra 350lb but thought that the stuff I loaded might be enough. This time I went out on a run which was great sailing at 8-10 mph with wing on wing was wonderful but coming back in was a nightmare. I had to pinch the wind the entire time coming back in and at times was barley able to tack. When I fell off the wind the heeling was extreme with water over the rail causing me to ease the main and pinch then fall back off again only to repeat the process the whole way making maybe 4 mph on a tack.

Long story short I really need to work on how to set a course to windward with out the boat wanting to constantly pinch and fall off and with out excessive heeling maybe more reefing??

Edit: I am pretty comfortable with the lee boards dropping the lee side on a tack and vice versa also heave to is a sinch just sheet in the mizzen tiller hard over and loose the main but the main flogs like crazy is the normal? Also I feel like I am always re adjusting my outhauls to keep the sail flat.