... happy with your new kick-up, Larry ... I was looking forward to your update on that ... Thanks, Craig ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry E Yake To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 1:02 PM Subject: Sailing After months of working on the boat and dreaming about sailing, the first sail of the year finally happened yesterday. Tom Smith, Randy Graves, and I met at Pend Oreille Lake for a one-day "shakedown cruise". Randy brought the M17 he's been busy restoring getting ready for the San Juan trip (to see if it actually floats and do some on-the-water work), Tom volunteered to crew for him (translation: "work on boat") and my wife and I sailed Tullamore with the main objective of testing the Ida Sailor kick-up rudder. Randy's done a great job refinishing his boat. If you've seen his before and after pictures on his web site, it's even more dramatic in person. It was a great day. Temperatures were in the 60's or 70's and the wind was strong and steady on the large bay we were sailing in. We started out with a reef in the main and the furling headsail reefed to 90%. There's something about that first sail of the year that just gets me grinning from ear to ear. The lake was choppy, the wind was full of just enough mischief to keep you on your toes, and the boat was alive with excitement. The new rudder performed excellently. Very nice solid feel, well balanced, and no flex or sloppiness in the pivot. Pinching up into the wind she would head up at least as high as my old rudder (which was a high performance balanced model), and overcanvassed on a broad reach with a lot of heel the weatherhelm remained very manageable. This is a good rudder and looks like a very good option for those who don't want to worry about their transom being ripped off by a hard grounding. After playing around on the bay for a couple hours, we headed back to the dock to see how Randy and Tom were coming on their projects. An old weak shroud which broke upon raising the mast and a stuck centerboard were going to keep Randys boat tied up that day, so we all climbed aboard Tullamore and spent the afternoon trading places at the helm, testing the rudder, and just having a good time. My wife choose to stay below out of the way, but had the distinct honor of enjoying the view and banter of 3 Monty sailors putting a 17 through her paces. "There's just something about a Montgomery man...." <grin> Thunderstorms rolling in chased us off the lake late in the afternoon and we managed to get loaded and on the road just as the downpours hit. Larry