Launch Day

By Nelson & Cathian Surbrook

     Launch day was fast approaching. We planned on having the maiden voyage of De Julia, our Weekender, on Saturday, June 24^th. Sleep the night before was elusive at best, and when morning finally arrived we welcomed it with great excitement.
     (Cathian's note: Nelson was like a little boy on Christmas morning, up before the chickens - there must be SOMEONE who knows what time chickens awaken - and making all sorts of noise so I would be sure to get up! He had the coffee going and I sat sipping it for the five minutes he would allow before it was time to start preparations to sail. I am still thinking of a nickname for him. Hmm… Nellie Bligh?)
     Cathian and I still needed to bend the sails and do a few little jobs on the boat to get it ready to go. We had taken a trip to Seattle a couple of weeks prior and had picked up the sails from Paul at Ulta Sail. We also got some very nice hanks for the jib and these worked really great. I laced the main to the mast and it worked okay, but I think I may make hoops and give them a try.
     The sails fit perfectly and now we were really getting anxious to get out on the water. The boat was loaded with more water. The boat was loaded with more gear than we needed, due to the belief that preparation is the key to carefree fun. We hooked up the trailer for the short trip to the lake. It was about 11 a.m. by the time we were ready to go and the weather had been windy all day with a few considerable gusts.
     We live in a wonderful area of the country with lots of lakes that are good for sailing. We thought we would just go to the closest one. It's about five miles to Liberty Lake from my dad's house (where we store the boat). In ten minutes we were at the launch ramp, drawing a crowd.
     It took about 15 minutes in the staging area to prepare her for the first launching (and our first time sailing). I was a little concerned with unloading from the trailer because it sits about 2.5 feet from the ground. But launching was a breeze and almost before I knew it she was floating and looking like the fine boat she is.
     (Cathian's note: I was thrilled beyond description to see her finally in the water. I never had a moment's doubt that she would be perfectly worthy, that Nelson could skipper her, or that even I could sail her. I was just ecstatic that she was finished and she is OURS! The credit goes to Nelson who stuck with the project and made De Julia such a little beauty!)
     Once in the water, it was a relief and a joy to see all that work and all those hours of sanding and cutting and gluing floating. It was definitely worth all the time and effort to get to this point. Nothing to do then but get aboard and go sailing.
     We were a little unsure of our abilities so we used the electric trolling motor to move away from the dock and hoist the sails. We set the jib first (before setting the main we were under weigh, leaving a nice little wake behind us) and then we set the main and everything worked just fine.
     I had figured we would have to do a bit of changing and modifying after the shakedown cruise to get things right. But most of that figuring turned out to be needless worry because it all worked just fine with one exception: the lashing of the main. I decided I want to replace that with hoops.