New England Trailer Sailors

The Maiden Voyage of a "New to them"- Unnamed 26S

By Jack and Rani Chadowitz

August 6, 2003

The date was July 26. The location Allen Harbor North Kingston RI. The history - after spending 2 Champlain rendezvous on By & By, a Mac 22, we decided a bigger boat was in our future. Upon looking, we found one on Cape Cod and it was in our possession on July 12. Barbara Garland stopped by the house and helped us rig it for the first time. By & By was in our driveway with a for sale sign and it wasn't long before it was sold. We were headed out of town on Monday July 28, Jack to San Diego and Rani to Israel, so the weekend of the 26th was our chance to try out our new boat.

We launched at low tide, an easy launch, and headed out of the harbor. As we put up the sails, the motor stalled and wouldn't restart. We sailed for a bit and tried again to start the motor: it started! With a bit more confidence , we decided to sail in the area outside of Allan Harbor. After discovering the beauty of sailing at 5 knots with a reefed main and only 80% jib, something totally unheard of on By & By, we decided it was time to find a beach to anchor at for lunch. As the wind picked up, we decided to motor in...the motor wouldn't start. During the 30 minutes of trying to start the motor, we forgot to throw out an anchor and drifted, at 2.2 knots, about a mile away from Allan Harbor. We finally realized we should sail as close in as possible, beach the boat and try to get a tow in from some good soul. We were at the point of calling Boat US for a tow. We put up only the jib, the wind had picked up tremendously, and sailed, at 5 knots easily, back in. Of course the motor started and stayed on long enough for us to dock the boat, thank goodness! It was getting pretty hairy out there, bobbing around with boats whizzing by.

Comments of the new captain and crew include - The boat sailed even better than I expected even with the original rudder. She sails like a dream: reefed main, 80% jib and 5 knots?? Unheard of on By & By. The speed, stability and comfort are awesome. We are very happy with the boat. The Tiller Stay worked great! Many thanks Barbara!

We now have a l-o-n-g list of "to-do's".

The big lesson was: put out an anchor!!

So now we really need a name for her. We have a few floating around: Big Whisper(as we have a 14 foot Whisper); Orca (as in whale!); Wanderer, but that's an ungainly mouthful on the radio. Any body got any ideas? If so email them to Jack@chadowitz.com

Next year at Lake Champlain we will be sailing with you instead of arriving last or leaving very early!

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