Greenheart
Well-known member
I recall two years ago, worrying that I wouldn't be able to pull my boat up the club slipway, singlehanded. In fact, I discovered that I can, by 'tacking' several times while climbing the gradient diagonally. So in my mind the issue ceased to take up space...
...this Sunday was a busy club day, and I borrowed a Laser because my Osprey isn't quite ready. At the moment I came ashore after a pleasant 90 minutes, the slipway was seriously crowded, so SWMBO brought the trolley to the club's other, narrow little slipway, which is too narrow to 'tack' up...
...and I couldn't pull the Laser up it.
I was initially horrified...what could the reason be? Some frightful winter muscle-wastage? Last October I'd pulled the Osprey out on my own, and she's at least double the Laser's weight...now, I welcomed the assistance of a friendly and powerful young fellow who said he'd been in the same situation himself, waiting in vain for his girlfriend to help.
Actually he recognised immediately that the Laser was chronically overweight. That was my fault - because rather than risk losing the bung, the club's Lasers have the bungs tied to their rudder stocks...and when I'd taken the rudder off to stop it dragging, I'd had to unscrew the bung too...which I did without a thought, since the unladen hull seemed to leave the bung-hole clear of the water.
...but by the time I got the hull on the wheels, quite a weight of water had entered the hole, though I doubt the semi-swamped Laser was anywhere near the Osprey's mass.
It made me think, that if I had bought the boat and then approached any of many other sailing clubs with narrow slips locally, I almost certainly would have concluded (after a few sad attempts) that I couldn't cope with hauling her weight up the slipway, and that I must resign myself to a smaller boat. Just lucky for me that my club has a very wide slipway & foreshore.
I wonder how many dinghy sailors realise that if their choice of boat is limited by its mobility ashore, it is mainly because the narrowness of the slipway they'll use prevents diagonal hauling-out?
...this Sunday was a busy club day, and I borrowed a Laser because my Osprey isn't quite ready. At the moment I came ashore after a pleasant 90 minutes, the slipway was seriously crowded, so SWMBO brought the trolley to the club's other, narrow little slipway, which is too narrow to 'tack' up...
...and I couldn't pull the Laser up it.
I was initially horrified...what could the reason be? Some frightful winter muscle-wastage? Last October I'd pulled the Osprey out on my own, and she's at least double the Laser's weight...now, I welcomed the assistance of a friendly and powerful young fellow who said he'd been in the same situation himself, waiting in vain for his girlfriend to help.
Actually he recognised immediately that the Laser was chronically overweight. That was my fault - because rather than risk losing the bung, the club's Lasers have the bungs tied to their rudder stocks...and when I'd taken the rudder off to stop it dragging, I'd had to unscrew the bung too...which I did without a thought, since the unladen hull seemed to leave the bung-hole clear of the water.
...but by the time I got the hull on the wheels, quite a weight of water had entered the hole, though I doubt the semi-swamped Laser was anywhere near the Osprey's mass.
It made me think, that if I had bought the boat and then approached any of many other sailing clubs with narrow slips locally, I almost certainly would have concluded (after a few sad attempts) that I couldn't cope with hauling her weight up the slipway, and that I must resign myself to a smaller boat. Just lucky for me that my club has a very wide slipway & foreshore.
I wonder how many dinghy sailors realise that if their choice of boat is limited by its mobility ashore, it is mainly because the narrowness of the slipway they'll use prevents diagonal hauling-out?
