Launch Day

Or otherwise called Launch Fail. Today, after finishing a few last minute things on the boat, we headed for Lake Harriet in Minneapolis with Lori, Jane, myself, and our friends Jack and Shelly. Originally I was concerned that there would be no wind for the sails. We ended up with enough wind to create white caps on the lake. We considered not launching, but decided to move forward, so we rigged up the mast and backed up to the boat launch. The wind was blowing directly at the launch from across the lake. As we started to prepare to release the boat, it decided to launch itself and backed itself sideways off the trailer and then headed backwards toward my truck. We were able to retrieve it after three of us got in the water and pulled it alongside the dock. The one thing I wanted to check on was the keel to make sure it wasn't leaking before we got too far. It wasn't exactly a steady stream, but just shy of that--more of a constant drip. In light of the 20+ mile an hour winds, and the leak, we put the boat right back on the trailer. We stepped down the mast, parked the boat and truck, and spent a windy hour or so on the beach. This week I will try to find and repair the leaking area on the keel, and retest it later in the week. The short video below shows us getting the boat to the dock.