Over the weekend we took the boat out to gulf and got him salty for the first time. We launched from the Dunedin Causeway and sailed up to the northern end of Honeymoon Island where we stopped for a bit, had a nice lunch, and chilled out for a while. We then spent some time sailing about and visiting some other little beaches before heading back when the tide and sun were starting to fall.
In all we had a really great time, was awesome to get out there and be able tot do it after so long dreaming about it. Winds were pretty good, 10-15 mph or so and steady. I think full sail probably would've been fine, but decided to tuck in a reef to be safe, have more headroom (in hindsight I should've made the mast a couple of feet taller), and have less risk of dunking the wife (want her to enjoy sailing as much as me).
Anyway, I made the sail fairly large at ~90 sqft for light winds and fun, and with one reef it's ~60 sqft (close to size of rig spec'd for the boat) and quite enough to drive the boat quickly with any decent wind and feels pretty docile and safe, making for a quick, fairly dry, and relaxing sail.
Hello Jake. I am enjoying reading your blog. I am planning to start building a Wa' apa. I am wondering about the self bailing cockpit. How did you design that? How well does it work?
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