Half Mast

Boys Trip 2006 026
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

The final insult was a break that we couldnt overcome. The mast broke. Greg fashioned the mast out of a 16 foot aluminum flagpole. Though it was stressed far beyond anything it was engineered for, it held up for two days under strong winds. In the end though, mother natures force was too much for the mast, and it snapped in the middle. The ironic part is that we were sailing for shore.

Greg wanted one last day of experimentation and sailing, and I wasnt about to let him go out in the boat alone... wed both end up stranded that way. Hed be stuck in the water, and Id be stuck on the island. So we shoved off one last time and tried to tack upwind, to no avail. We pulled the sail down, and as Greg frantically attempted repairs, the wind pushed us slowly downwind from our campsite. We were approximately a quarter mile downwind, when I announced that it was time to bring our experiment to a close.

I suggested using the wind to our advantage by bringing the sail up one last time and harnessing the winds power to at least get us to shore, allowing us to paddle back up to our campsite in the islands wind shadow, thus fighting the wind less.

We hoisted the sail, flew for five feet or so, and heard that final **SNAP**. We looked up just in time to see the sail and mast tumbling. It was the final defeat in our experiment.

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Rudder Problems

Boys Trip 2006 079
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

The next problem we encountered was a rudder problem. We used a canoe paddle as the rudder, which was bolted to the catamaran frame using something that Greg fashioned. This mount broke, and we ended up having to ratchet strap the canoe paddle to the frame. Once this was done, the rudder didnt function quite as efficiently, so I periodically resorted to using two canoe paddles to achieve my objective.

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Repaired Leeboard

Boys Trip 2006 086
Originally uploaded by OzzyC.

After repairing the leeboard, we again tested our craft for seaworthiness. As you can see in this picture, the repair was fashioned out of a steel brace, hose clamps and a log provided by mother nature. Greg sunk a lag bolt in to the log. We tested things out, and the repair held, but there was yet another problem. By repairing the leeboard in this fashion, the board didnt sit as deeply in the water, effectively eliminating a portion of our ability to tack. We were able to tack one way against the wind, but not the other.

As you can imagine, this necessitated another long arduous paddle back to shore. Fortunately, we were picked up by a pair of boaters who towed our crippled craft back to our campsite for still more repairs.

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