| I think tenderness is the biggest
question with this design, at least it has been the main concern
with many (me too). I can tell you without a doubt it is a non-issue.
Obviously it's no keel-boat with 2500# of lead holding it up.
But we can move freely about the boat underway with just a little
common sense. Actually, when I say that I mean common sense to
keep us level, even with no sense I am confident it would not
knock down from crew imbalance alone. My lady doesn't like sudden
movements, nor would she like heeling at 30 degrees. But she was
more than comfortable even in the higher winds when we were cooking
along at probably 10 with maybe 15 degrees heel. Compared to a
PDR this thing is rock solid.
I started with both sails full up owing to the light winds. It
was my intention to start with one.... but it seemed silly considering
the condition. It was the right decision. All speeds are guesses,
and I asked Andrew and Breaux mostly since I have no feel for
it. Winds to start were light, about 5 steady I'm thinking. There
were some light gusts after a while. I think we were doing about
4-6, 6 being during the gusts. She pipes right up when the wind
picks up, accelerating rather than leaning. After lunch it was
a different story. The wind had risen to about 10-12 with gusts
to 15+. I guess this would have been a chance to see what she
does with one sail or reefed, but truth be told we never considered
it. Even Karen was anxious to see what she would do. We took several
things out of the boat that we would hate to loose and discussed
again what we would do in a knock down.
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First some shots of the prep time. Here is the
crew of the Laguna Uno
all hands were helping get her ready! |
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Chantel |
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Sarah |
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Matthew |
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Mom (Karen) |
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hris Breaux and I discuss the way I rigged the
assembly bolts. |
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OK, so here I am at the helm.... |
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And part of my happy crew.... |
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Sarah Rides the bow |
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Dad acts a fool! Standing on
the bow hiding behind the sail. |
Launching off the beach was easy as pie, I walked us out to depth
and off we went. The sails handled as easy as before, it is so
simple to find the happy spot. Anytime the helm got heavy I had
Matthew change the sail trim on the forward sail and she could
easily be set up to sail herself with very little help from me.
I'm sure we were doing 10 or better. You will see one pic where
bow and stern are in the air and life was good! I think we all
let out a war cry at that point! We tacked and tacked and tacked,
never once feeling like we would fall over. I did two jibes and
that was fine and uneventful. If she handles this well in these
conditions, with full sail on, I have no doubt she will do fine
reefed in the June winds we all love so much. Here are some pictures.
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We had lunch after a 2 hour sail. Here is a
shot of her beached. |
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Things are fairly calm here... |
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But here it got FUN!!!!!!!!!!! The boat is planing
and we felt like we were flying! Still she handled like a
lady with no bad tendencies. A little tweek on the fore sail
was used on all points to trim the helm. I never had any issues
with lee or weather helm owing to the fact that
I could trim it at will. |
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I believe this is as far as she heeled. You
can see by the wake that we had some way on for sure! |
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Everyone got real comfortable shifting
when we came about and usually one of the kids was on the
windward side to balance the boat.
Two guys might find they were more over than this obviously. |
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Again you can see the level
sailing she can do. |
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"Coast Guard....this is rocket ship Laguna...
requesting clearance for takeoff...." |
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A great shot to end with. The weather was awesome,
the wind was fine, the water was clear (though FULL of cabageheads!)
and the company was delightful |
I have a few..... not complaints.... but issues. Simple stuff.
The front of the boom on the aft sail is a PAIN! Driver be ware,
that thing will kill you :-) The sheet on the aft sail is also
a PAIN! It wants to hang on everything. I had it on the rudder
cheeks and not only did it want to break that, but being that
I offset the rudder to accommodate the motor, it was pulling on
the rudder at times and you have to change the sheet setting with
every tack. I have a new rig ready for today, will report how
that goes.
OK, on the bottom. Guys, Jim knows his stuff! That 2x2 we all
thought was unnecessary....yeah, you need that :-) Remember how
I was freaked by my PDR with the Luan bottom? Well the 1/2 bottom
on Laguna looks JUST like that! Almost looks like jello when you
are hitting a wave. The first major change will be that addition.
I may even do 3, one bow to stern and 2 just on the main part.
My plan is to sand off the paint in that area and glue if with
PL Premium and use plenty of screws.
One other little thing... it's still flat bottom. No way to get
away from slapping waves. Oh well, I ain't got time for a multichine
hull! Next time though!
OK, more to come. We are headed out again, planning on about 15
miles, lunch on an island, stuff like that. WOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laguna lives!!!!
*****
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