I won't call this a maiden voyage because we only had her out for a short trip at the Fort Desoto boat ramp.  But at least we know she floats!  Check it out ----
She looks good on the water.

Conditions were light to fluky in the bay between the Fort Desoto boat ramp and Bunces Pass.  The tide had just started going out when we launched and was flowing pretty good when we had to beat back to the docks with very light winds.  Gusting to 5 knots might be too optimistic. 


Heading out toward the pass with virtually no heel.


The hiking benches are mounted on top of the akas in a temporary manner.  I wanted to get out on the water a couple of times before deciding exactly how I wanted to mount them.  There is lots of excess line coiled and not coile laying around.  Again, I wanted to sail the boat before cutting lines to the proper length. 


Here is one reason I want to test a bit before final rigging.  Notice the yard is out of shape and the upper one third of the sail isn't really helping - maybe even robbing power from the bottom two thirds.  This is because the yard I made is too wimpy and flexes too much.  Also, perhaps I tied it too tight to the top of the sail.  The loose line you see hanging from the top of the mast is the headsail halyard that does double duty as a lazy jack when the headsail is not being used.  With such light winds we could really have used the head sail, but I left it home to keep the first trip simple and work out all the rigging details for everything else first.

The shorter lines between the jaws are for tying the sail to the mast.  I didn't actually use them for two reasons: I forgot all about them and the wind was so light it wasn't necessary.  They look kind of messy, but they will be fine when I trim the and tie them properly.


Why am I always chasing the kayaks?


Tim the Carpenter is telling me to try to keep the speed down - just kidding.


This was taken out the back window of the van and the way home.

It was a good first sail even though she didn't get to show off yet.