One last sail

The weather is good so I eek out one last sail of the season before we have to take the Black pig home. There was a big storm all last week, which is why they emptied the lake of water!! But this week you can see where the waterline got to and also there are boats all over the place!! The wetsuit is on! and after a quick check over of Black pig and the road trailer we rig up and launch in some fair winds. The launch is difficult as it's a "lee shore", meaning the wind is pushing us back onto shore. If you watch the launch carefully you can see I can't get enough power into pushing me off, so I make sure I have enough room to reverse and veer into the wind until I catch it fully. The novice has come of age!!! ;-) Afternoticing the jibstick found itself a new home on the boat, we try and put together everything we've learned in the season. We start with a tack, then a gybe the a lee-shore landing that doesn't quite go to plan. You can actually see my launch trolley left on the slipway it's so quiet today I thought it would be fine. We relaunch and attempt to Heave-to. After 5 attempts we manage it. I think I need to control my mainsail better and have the daggerboard all the way down. Next up is the 270 degree Tack. This is a really useful manouvre to learn as in high winds where a gybe can be risky, you can do this instead. A nice little sail, was almost like a mini self exam to prove to myself how well I can now sail. Really sad though as it's going to be the last time I sail on Lake Bala for a while. 00:00 The aftermath of the storm 00:39 Assessing the weather 01:03 Canoes everywhere! 01:55 Checking Black Pig and the road trailer 03:04 My new gloves 04:18 Dinghy sign is in! 05:03 Mid-morning snack 05:24 The wind is up 05:53 Launching from a lee-shore 06:56 trimming the mainsail for higher winds 07:34 The jibstick hitched a lift! 07:50 First tack of the day 09:10 Mysterious red marker 09:26 First Gybe of the day 10:52 Landing the boat on a lee-shore 13:48 Heaving-to practise 17:18 270 degree Tack 18:48 Back home