Yesterday, at about one o'clock in the afternoon on Monday, June 9th, Carina Vela slipped into the water for the first time under our ownership. What follows are the events of that day, as they happened. After all, you can't retrofit a boat for 11 months without anything happening at the launch!
At eight o'clock in the morning, the boat hauler arrived at our house in Townsend (an hour early). Of course, Mom and I were still putting stuff on the boat, the mast had to be moved, and none of us had had breakfast yet.
At 10:30 AM we arrived at the boatyard in Gloucester after an hour and a half on the road. Upon boarding the boat (it was in the slings), dad saw that all that was left of the forward hatch was the piece of teak holding it to the hinges. Apparently it became dislodged during a series of bumps on the back roads near our house.
By 1:30 PM the boat was in the water, at the dock. Luckily, none of the through hulls leaked. The only problem was the new PSS dripless stuffing box we had installed this spring. It apparently leaks excessively until the rings seat together... This was remedied by putting the engine in gear while the boat was still partially suspended by the slings.
2:30 PM. The mast is suspended by the sling. Backstay and uppers are attached. What we learned in the next few minutes created quite a confusion. Since we ordered all new rigging this year, none of it had been tested. Apparently the two lower shrouds are not the same length, the aft one is considerably longer. With this in mind, we straightened the mast, attached the forestay, and attached the two foresail halyards to the stanchion bases as temporary shrouds. For the next twenty minutes, the skipper got a bird's eye view of the deck from a ladder twenty feet in the air as he switched the four lower shrouds.
3:00 PM. The mast is up with all rigging attached and tensioned. We slowly emerge out of the slip, backing into "open" water. It is at this point when we realize that the Alberg does not back up very well. For the next hour we motored around the harbor, getting used to how the steering and throttle handle.
4:30 PM. We are comfortably sitting on Carina Vela with all dock lines fastened. By the time we left, the boom was on the mast, with the mainsail in place and covered. The main went up so effortlessly (there was no wind) with the new 6inch Maxi sheave, that there was no need for the winch! For a temporary fix for the front hatch, we screwed a thin piece of Plexiglass onto the hatch base just forward of the mast. For a permanent fix, we purchased a piece of 3/8 " Lexan which will be screwed into the new teak frame we are making.
We continued on our way to the mooring in Ipswich. Upon arriving, (at low tide) we realized that the channel hadn't been marked correctly and the offset on the depth finder wasn't adjusted correctly. Therefore, we ran hard aground on the sandbar that ran right across the channel (which happened to be marked incorrectly). Luckily, a motor boat was nearby and towed us off the sand. We meandered through the river very carefully, I might add, to our new mooring home...putting new penants on in the process. Our first sail on Carina Vela was a learning experience. One can always learn something new from another sailor. All in all, it was a great experience. We are looking forward to going out again as soon as the weather permits.
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