Outside of sailing dinghy's, I've only sailed my own or similar sized boats in a couple decades. Sailing my son's 'new' 26' boat was much closer to sailing a dinghy than Xmas. Sitting in the cockpit is the first shock. Like a dinghy, you're 'in' the water, not on it. Uncovering sails for the first time, everything was good to go. Raising a main this size is child's play. The continuous line roller furler worked flawlessly. Sails are old but all stitched and set pretty well in the 5 knots of wind that was out there( when I could find it). And it was beautiful on the water yesterday.
SKAL makes a delightful sound lightly underway in the glassy harbor. It's a gentle bubbling from the hull that is only a few inches below you.
She's all cockpit you can see as I'm taking photos from the aft benches. The cool moist Southeasterly breeze gave me a burst of 5 or 6 knots of windpower just to get a feel of the little boat. I told my son via email, the main is rigged for two reefs and you will want to use them in anything above 10-12(knowing he won't listen ). SKAL has plenty of SA, ...and it will do the teaching.
A young man probably sees this boat taking him out to sea. The older man couldn't resist taking the nimble little boat through the congested harbor. I took several tacks through the boats in the inner harbor.
I felt plenty of elbow room sailing around the boats and sailed effortlessly onto the mooring. I started the motor to see how fast it pushed the boat (5 knots) but I'm not sure I'd put up with the drag if I owned SKAL.
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That's it for sailing 2015.