First Sail

Before I could go sailing I had a few things to take care of. I had changed the bearings in the trailer, found some drain plugs and tested that I knew how to rig her, and that all the rigging worked ok. But, after several weeks of preparation the time had finally come to get Providence wet for the first time under her new crew.

The day was absolutely perfect for a first sail - light winds in the morning building to a nice steady fresh wind in the afternoon. The water was still and the ramp wasn't too busy, so launching went without a problem. It was very pleasing to see my little ship bobbing at the end of the painter.

Soon we had the sails up and set off on to the Swan. The light winds may have been a bit too light and we struggled to make way, but this gave me a chance to get used to all the lines and to test the Yuloh (sculling oar) that was my alternative propulsion instead of an outboard.

Eventually we cleared Pelican Point and the wind picked up a bit. Then we really started to make some head way. My 3 year old daughter was a bit upset by the wash from the large stink boats and hid in the cabin, snuggled up on my wife's lap. My 7 year old was having a ball though and was happy watching the waves and the other boats. She also snapped a few pics of the occasion.

Before long we were across the river off the shore of Applecross. We thought about going ashore for a play at Heathcote, but thought that 3YO might not want to get back on board, so we kept sailing - heading back to the ramp. It was a nice shy run back across the river and then a bit of a beat in to Matilda Bay. A little way from the shore the wind died again and I had to whip out the yuloh to push us to shore.

All in all a very successful first trip.