Small sailers large lake

[Hughesfamily]

Oh boy, this was humbling. Lack of experience was very noticeable this past weekend but we tried!

We are moored on a large lake. We decided it’s time to unclip off the buoy and experience it. Away we went under engine. There was a plethora of speed boats and pwc’s out. Most of which we’re making huge waves. We never experienced this before. We decided to stay to the side and clear the busy area. We could see the yacht club and all the sails up but we aged getting out there. It was darn right scary for us.

I plotted out our course. We went west to a clear area, then turned east into the wind. Michelle did a great job holding us and I jumped on deck and lifted both sails. After hugging the mast multiple times during wake boat passes, (my gosh)I took the helm and.........

I turned us further east to a good close reach. The sails filled, I tightened the Genoa and relaxed the boom gently, I was hoping to gain lift and have a nice long stretch before we would have to tack and run for another good long while. No buenos! I was thinking no wind now, just our luck. After what seemed like a few short minutes I was having a hard time keeping her pointed left. She wanted to go right, I was fighting her. Ultimately she came around by herself and we were pointing downwind. Had we continued to the right, I would have had to tack very quickly as I set us up for a good long run left.

I think after the excitement of getting out, we were spent and just motored home to the buoy. Proud we were though! That was a Large effort. All be it failed lol.

[Hughesfamily]

Questions:
At what point do I forget about lift and point us into the waves for safety? Do I stick to my plan and just take the waves on from the side?

What do you think I did wrong to have the boat right itself? I’m thinking I never considered the strength of the water current and relied on the wind direction alone. Once I noticed I couldn’t achieve lift I should have started off to the west to gain speed before tacking onto the wanted eastern course?

It was a large event for us. We’re very pleased that we tried :-)

[Jammer]

Part of the problem is that MacGregors don't sail especially well no matter what you do. Compromises in the hull shape were made to allow them to reach high speeds when motoring.

It is possible that you did not have the ballast tanks full, or that the ballast valves were open or leaking, which will radically reduce sailing performance.

At what point do I forget about lift and point us into the waves for safety? Do I stick to my plan and just take the waves on from the side?

It's a judgement call. Whenever you're not comfortable, or your crew or passengers are not comfortable. Usually it's sufficient to keep the incoming wake/waves within 45 degrees of the bow, you don't have to hit them exactly head on.

[sandy stone]

Actually, the sailing abilities of MacGregors depend on the specific model, and not all have water ballast. There is a MacGregor 25 on my lake that does quite well racing, with an experienced skipper and crew.

To the OP - are you comfortable with your knowledge of sail trim? There is plenty of information available on the web, or if you have questions we could probably answer them here.

[JPA Cate]

Hi, Hughes Family,

As always with the internet, there are varied opinions.

It's brand new to you! You are on the steep part of the learning curve. Now that you know the motor boats wakes are a factor in the ease of hoisting the sails. When you go to hoist them, the person on the engine should motor about 15 degrees off head to wind, this will keep the sails off you, and when both are hoisted, they can steer down to the 30-40 degrees to the wind range. The boat will heel, and now you can try to sail. You should find it a little easier to keep your balance with it heeled steadily. Also, soon your body will learn how to do it without your having to think about it so much.
Lake winds are usually light and very changeable (flukey). You will learn to look for the subtle changes in what you feel on your face and see on the water, to inform you when you're getting out of or into more breeze.

But perhaps you need to learn more about your obligations of when to maintain course and speed, and when to yield to sailing traffic. When you are motoring, you follow motor boat rules, yield to those coming from your starboard side. There's more, but that one is critical.

What I'd suggest is to see if the sailing club on the lake near your mooring has classes, to present you with easily managed bit of knowledge that will help you enjoy your boat. Otherwise for the rules in Canada for inland waters, I'm sure you can Google and find them. Both you and your family need to become familiar with them. They are based on years of traditions: most people will be following them.

It's a beautiful part of the world there; I wish you pleasant sailing. However, be warned, it's a bit addictive once you get used to it all.

Ann

[senormechanico]

Make sure you have the centerboard all the way down when you try going upwind.
Beam reach, half is good.
Downwind, you don't really need it.


That's what I do with my trimaran.

[Hughesfamily]

Thanks for all the replies. It’s a Mac25, no water ballast. You have to have a boaters license in Canada, we do. We are overly courteous on the water as we are on land too, always will be. Nonetheless we will be reviewing it all. Traffic seemed good, just right beside us, both sides lol. Do I have experience, first time in that busy environment, I have little on the water. I have been enjoying lake kayaking for the last 6 years. Am I confident with sail trim, we have been out under sail 6 times. This was the first time this year. I know what I want and what I need, I’m just enjoying learning how to do it.

I wish we could afford the initiation fees to become yacht club members. Maybe they won’t mind if we pop by once in awhile. I think I will seek out more live assistance. Now that we have some experience, I have many more questions.

[Hughesfamily]

Well we’re hitting the water again tomorrow. Wednesday after work not too hot, shouldn’t be too busy. I’m going to take a different route to the open water in an effort to stay out of the way lol.

I have gone over everything from the last trip. In the commotion of it all, I believe I was more focused on safety and thus stayed just within the no go after I got the sails up. I should have A. stayed under motor longer and cleared the area to a more comfortable spot for us. B. I should have lifted the main, got under way for a bit with the engine off and then lifted the headsail.

Michelle is willing to join me again but we’re going to get better prepared before we leave the Buoy. This will decrease the amount of time to get the sails up which equals less time keeping her in irons to get the main up. This was one of the largest areas of stress for my amazing partner. :-) she was anxious keeping the boat in irons under engine in the busy environment.

We’ve got this!

[Spot]

Originally Posted by Hughesfamily

Well we’re hitting the water again tomorrow...We’ve got this!

I like your can-do attitude!

Been there done that with managing a new-to-me sailboat while powerboats and PWC's are zooming by. Our local lake has a narrow channel between the 2 big landings and the main body that intensifies this situation.

Also be aware that the wind can die off towards sunset in some locales. Do you have working navigation lights on the Mac25?

[Hughesfamily]

Thank you for bringing that up. I just finished redoing the solder joints on the wiring. Even the 12 volt adapter works (aka cigarette lighter lol)
In my excitement I would have likely not thought about bringing the battery! Thanks again
Charging now!

Creating pre and post check lists too. We left the blue tooth speaker charger on board last time.

[Spot]

I had an incident once where I wired an accessory plug backwards and 'let the smoke out' of a cheap USB charge plug. My mistake was using a filament (incandescent) tester that signaled it had power but not whether polarity was correct.

My boat is kept in my driveway on its trailer and the battery is kept up by a small solar panel and controller, going on several years of this with no issues.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Hughesfamily

I should have A. stayed under motor longer and cleared the area to a more comfortable spot for us. B. I should have lifted the main, got under way for a bit with the engine off and then lifted the headsail.

yes and yes.

Motor out far enough to get to a place that is more open, away from shore, less waves, less traffic, and gives you enough room to play around a bit to get sailing.

With the engine running in forward but not too fast, we motor into the wind while raising the main. Then we bear off to the desired course, and then pop out the headsail. When the boat seems ready and willing to sail on, then we stop the outboard and raise it.

[Hughesfamily]

Thank you, the plan was solid, the wind was non existent.

We will try again. :-)

[Hughesfamily]

Michelle and I spent the day on the lake yesterday. It was amazing! We motored out, the lake was quiet the wind was less than 2 knots. This time we giggled as we raised the main sail. Michelle gave me the tiller back, I pulled her into a close reach, the sail filled and we shut the motor off. We spent the day tacking across the water with incredible views. Our course was dictated by the tack and how close we wanted to see the beautiful homes. With such low winds our boom remained quite straight for the trip. If we weren’t close reached we were beam reached. We contemplated putting up the headsail but we both smiled and said, were good. Downwind home was a different story, not enough wind to jibe back but I was very happy to see our main was set just like others while trying until we started the motor. We were pros getting back on the buoy. What a day.
We’re so happy and looking forward to next outing.

We’re loving it.

[Lake-Effect]

Excellent. You get it now.

But yeah, raise that headsail too. Make the most of the light winds.