No April foolin’ here

Managed to take my first sail of 2012 on Sunday, April Fools Day. The tiller is still rough but enough fitting to work as planned. Still not sure why it took so long but here we are, finally hove to off Swan Point.

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Sails raised for the first time in many months. Let’s hope I make up for lost time. Who wants to go for a sail?

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Brunch under way. A treat a long time coming.

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Lots of shaping to do but it works fine. The aft end needs to be trimmed and faired but the forward end is now high enough to clear the blocks. When I laid out the new rudder I made the tiller slot parallel to the water line. I think the original rudder had the slot angled up slightly so the tiller started out at a bit of an angle, thus the current kink. Oh well, it and the rudder itself works fine.

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Beating into a rising Southwesterly on a mostly empty Bay. It seems I still remember how to sail. I poked around south of Swan Point hoping to catch a glimpse of the lost rudder as the water’s still clear but no luck. By now, if it’s still on the bottom, it’s covered in growth and mud and invisible.

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Pics from St. John later this week.