Sailing Little Yellow

I went down to our nearby lake where we keep out “little yellow sailboat”. My wind gauge was saying 3.1 MPH so I knew it was not going to be a high speed day. I took the gas can and filled her engine with the 50:1 she sips and then bent on the sails. I started the lil’ beast and flipped the motor around to back out of the slip and was just clear of the dock when she died ( and me with an on shore breeze). I pulled and pulled but no would she start. At the end of the sail I experimented and found by riching mixture it would start and run great – lesson learned, richen when you shut off engine :).

The sail was enjoyable but slow, with only a few puffs of wind to drive us into about a 10° port side down ( a starboard tack) angle. I sailed around for about an hour but the clouds were darkening and the occasional thunder rumble could be heard si I headed under sail for the dock. The wind was just right for the approach to the dock but I knew it was going to be dicey with no motor. At about 5’ out from the dock and making slowly for the slip, I raised the keel – big mistake – and the boat more or less turned 45° to the slip and dock under sail influence alone. Bang into the dock with the bow. I grabbed onto one of the posts and forced the boat around into the slip. Whew – sweating time was over. Time to go home for the day.