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I just bought my 9th sailboat (including one I never got to sail—don’t ask!) and this is hands down, the most exciting and fun boat I’ve ever sailed. I have sailed at least two-dozen boats in the last quarter century from sunfish to a 70 foot racing sloop and I have never had more thrills than I did in a couple of hours today. The boat is an MC Scow, a 16-foot single-handed racing sailboat with a single sail and it flies! I didn’t start out too well; I forgot to put the boards down and quickly slipped sideways into a neighbor’s dock. Once I remembered which of the dozen control lines to pull to lower them, I was on my way to pure unadulterated fun. The wind was forecast to be 10 to 15 knots and that is what I got. At 10 the boat and rigging literally starts humming. At 15, hang on, you need to hike out and keep it on the edge of capsizing. Since the water temperature was still in the low 50’s I didn’t want to take a dip. Still, I had amazing control and never once felt I was close to loosing it even though the lee rail was buried and I was laying flat out hanging over the weather rail and the boat was heeled at 45 degrees. When the wind stayed steady over 10, and I had it comfortably heeled at 25 degrees, the boat’s humming made it seem like it to want to take off. What a rush! It was even more thrilling when I turned down wind on a broad reach. I guess it got up on plane because I seemed to be skimming over the water instead of sailing through it. The sensation of speed was like nothing I’ve experienced on the water short of a Jetski. (Don’t tell my sailing buddies that I’ve owned one of those or they will drum me out of the corps). It was like I had been driving a Cadillac all my life and someone just gave me the keys to a brand new Corvette! The rapid acceleration and precise handling are like no boat I’ve ever sailed. You get immediate reaction to the tiller and the sheet. You can even dramatically increase your speed just by shifting your weight. I’ve got a lot to learn. When you tack, you must drop what will become the leeward board, duck under the foot high boom, get started on the new course and raise the upwind board. (One MC I looked at was called Nose Dive because the owner got his very crooked nose when the boom smashed it in a jibe he didn’t see coming.) In addition remembering which board to raise and which to lower, and keeping proper sheet trim, I’ve got to figure out correct boom vang tension, traveler position, and finally Cunningham and outhaul settings. Everything is very adjustable, but it is a lot for one person to think about in addition to steering the boat and trimming the sheet. That is without thinking about race tactics and strategy. I was out there alone today playing around. I can’t wait to get out there with the dozens of other boats weekend in the races this summer. I’m discovering the thrill of sailing all over again; I can’t wait. |