The First Cruise

· Suur-Saimaa · Sarastus · 1 M

Finally the day came when weather and our schedule permitted having the first cruise on Wayfarer on the Finnish waters. We towed the dinghy to the local bay where we set up the rig. It must be said that preparing the lines was a tricky and time-consuming task. Before the next sail it would be good to study and test the rig on ground, especially the mainsail and boom lines. There are so many good-to-know issues related to them.

Launching was surprisingly easy and trouble-free. The only issue was that we forgot to close the boat drain plugs that caused the cockpit floor to flood significantly. After the plugs were installed, the situtation was under control again and we were able to start the sail.

The first cruise on Lake Saimaa
In the beginning we tried sail with genoa only but that didn’t work well. After raising the mainsail it was easier to point to the wind. Our cruise didn’t last for long as a thunder started to rise. We turned around and reached to pier right before the rage of the storm began. The Finnish Meteorological Institute had not warned about it in this part of the country. We were bombarded not only by water but also hailstones, with a diameter of up to 15 mm, and the thunder-gusts were fierce! As a result of the storm, temperature dropped from 30°C to 20°C.

Completely wet we pulled the boat from the water, packed the rig over it and drove back to home where the storm had caused an electric shortage.

Despite of all the misfortunes the first cruise was an interesting experience and raised many questions too. After we have got answers to them there should be better chance to have a more successful cruise next time.