Maiden Voyage!

Over a week after finishing her, I finally took Geall out for her maiden voyage and christening. Weather and schedules finally aligned well enough to take her out this afternoon.

Ready to roll

We went to Boyd Lake, a local reservoir here in northern Colorado. We also took our two tandem kayaks we just bought last year (since all five of our family can't fit in an Eastport Pram at one time).

I put her in the water and to everyone's amazement, she floated! And to no one's amazement, I flailed at using oars for the first time in over ten years. As far as I could tell, she rowed fine (up until a bronze oarlock pin sheared off).

Appeasing Neptune

One of the gifts I received at last Sunday's cookout was a small bottle of champagne, perfect for the christening. So I officially christened her "geall" -- Gaelic for "promise" while sacrificing all but a small amount of the bottle to Neptune.

Under sail

I was very pleased with her performance under sail. The winds were variable (this is Colorado, after all), but she always kept moving. It was a during a calm period that I tried rowing with the sail up and that was when the oarlock broke. Sailboats always have to remind me that they are meant to be sailed.

Another mini-crisis occurred when I came into shore for the first time. The kick-up rudder kicked up just fine when it became shallow. When I went to take her out again with my kids aboard I discovered that the knob for tightening the rudder blade had fallen off into the water. Fortunately, my oldest son jumped into the water and found it within 5 minutes. I'm going to have to find a way to keep it attached (and buy a spare).

My wife then took my oldest son out and had a blast sailing her. I have been hoping that all of my kids will learn to love sailing her.

All in all, it was a great first sail.

Geall is launched