Another huge milestone for us. On Friday we left Preveza Greece to sail south to Lefkas...its not a huge distance but it was our first solo sail as a family. And our first sail on this boat.
Here are my first impressions:
1) The boat is well set up for solo sailing except for the fact that the mainsail is raised at the mast. This means one of us has to go forward to raise the sail. Not a big deal except if you're sailing alone and trying to keep the boat pointed into the wind. I suppose that's what the autopilot is for, or I could lock the wheel...I'll have to experiment with that.
2) The mainsail takes forever to raise. This is largely due to to the fact that it is rigged with a 2:1 block. It makes raising the main easier due to mechanical advantage but takes twice as long...and it's a lot of halyard (that's rope for you non-sailors) left sitting at your feet when you're done...
3) Sailing with the kids is going to take some getting used to. Janet and I want to focus on moving the boat, making sure that its behaving well, and the kids want the regular amount of attention. We'll have to train that out of them. Both kids said they were sea-sick but I don't know if I'm buying it. No vomit so maybe they were just a bit queasy.
4) Med-mooring is going to take practice. When we got to Lefkas we headed to Lefkas marina. I don't intent to spend too much time in marinas moving forward but we don't have a dinghy yet so anchoring out is not possible. That's why we're in Lefkas - hopefully we will be on our way by Tuesday with a dinghy so we can spend more time at anchor (free) vs marinas (cheap to very expensive). Anyway, backing this behemoth into a specific space while securing mooring lines resulted in some expletives and some bouncing of the boat off a concrete pier. Nobody and nothing was damaged, but frustrating and less than confidence building. As our friend Leah says over at withbrio, everyone does it, and the best thing to do is move on with life so we're hoping for a better performance next time.
All in all, we're pleased with the boat and looking forward to some more firsts...