Underway under sail

We have finally gotten Hattie L out on Seneca Lake under sail! It was a beautiful Sunday morning but the winds were light and variable (variable is the way of winds on Seneca Lake) so we powered up and left the marina. We figured out how to raise the sails and away we went for an enjoyable four hours.
Coming back into the marina was a breeze and we made a perfect (for us) docking manuver.

We both now need to practice - preactice - practice but there are lots of folks in the Seneca Harbor marina and the Finger Lakes Yacht Club who seem more than willing to give us all the advice we need.

A new Kicker

Bought a 5HP Honda Four stroke outboard today. So many problems with the 7.5 ancient Honda that it seemed better to buy a new motor and be done with it.

Looks like Friday will find us mounting the motor and taking a short motor trip before berthing at the right berth and then going to the local USPS Seamanship course.

Hattie L is floatng

Well, Hattie L is afloat - but not without some problems.

When she was lowered into the water, the centerboard would not come down so out she was pulled. After about 20 minutes with crowbar and hammer the crew got that rusty chunk of metal to raise and lower.

Then there was the issue of the lower shrouds. They are connected but there is a possiblity they are backwards which means getting a ladder to reverse them.

Finally, the starter rope on the old Honda 7.5 HP kicker broke on the second pull.

Overall, not the best situation! We soothed our battered souls while sitting in the marina's bar and tomorrow we should get the starter mechanism installed and motor over to our own slip.

There will be more and photos and this saga continues.

She does look nice, to us, afloat though.