Maiden Voyage

We took out the Bluenose for a test run under motor. We didn't know what to expect, since the previous owner had never taken it out in the year that he owned it. It has a 4hp outboard motor, which took awhile to get started, only due to a lever that was switched off. It runs well, although it idled a bit high, making things a bit frantic when we were backing out of the slip. There is a very circuitous and narrow set of buoys to the main harbor, which we managed to traverse. Morro Bay is a tricky area for sailing and we will definitely need a chart before we go back out. After awhile, we were comfortable with the boat's operation and decided to turn back around and sail it home. The mainsail is not really ready for operation, needing a cunningham and a few pulleys rigged onto it, but we put up the jib and jib-sailed it back. It sailed pretty well in the light winds with just a jib. We tried to take a bit of a short cut and got caught up in some grass, but motored the boat out of it and sailed it all the way back the rest of the way on the jib. We've been used to chartered cruisers, so it was nice to be able to manhandle this boat a bit and just pull it into our slip. We noticed on a neighboring slip, a beautiful old boat from '62 getting pulled in by the Harbor Master after it's diesel engine died (and the couple who own it apparently don't know how to sail yet), so we felt pretty good about sailing ours in. The boat could use a little scrape and paint, but I think it is in good enough shape that we can sail it through the summer. This is actually looking like a pretty good purchase. Sorry for the lack of a picture, but my camera battery was dead, so probably next time.

Oops, we bought a boat

This is the soon-to-be saga of our Bluenose sloop. My friend Charlie and I have been eyeing sailboats since taking a sailing course last year in Santa Barbara. We can get down there occasionally to charter boats, but we thought it would be nice to have something closer to where we live (on the Central Coast). Morro Bay has a harbor and we looked at a couple of boats here. The deal is that most of the boats for sale are really about getting the slip or mooring. There is a waiting list for both, right now. We stumbled across a Craig's list ad for a "1968 McVay Bluenose Sloop," selling for a good price, and comes with a slip. The most recent owner had it for a year and never sailed it. It needs a little work, but I think could be in sailable condition in not too much time. It is a 23.5 ' boat with a fiberglass hull, designed in Nova Scotia and, from what I can gather on the internet, a bit of a rarity, particularly on this coast. Eventually, it will need a scrape and paint, but we are going to try to get out on it as it is. The cabin is only for storage and I believe this was mostly designed as a racer. The open water can be a bit rough out this way, so our intention is to sail it mostly in the harbor (and possibly get a trailer to take it on one of the local lakes). The marina lies in an area where the water drops to 4 feet at low tide, so it seemed a boat with less than a 4 foot drag would be a natural. The outboard motor is in reasonbly good condition, so our plan is to motor it out tomorrow on a maiden voyage, sans sails, and see if it is seaworthy. Then we will start working on the sails. I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow if I remember to bring the camera.