Second Day on the Water with More Wind

We had more of the same yesterday on our second day of sail testing, tweaking and prep work for the race. We had 20 knots of breeze out of the east, so the winds were up a bit. We’ll be working with Spinlock today on the jammers and continuing to tune the rig. We’ll also mount the hydrogenerators and get them running again for our zero fossil fuel goal. Thanks to the Quantum Sail team for all their help and the best looking sails I have ever owned!

Cheers,
Brad

Photos by Dustin K. Ryan

First Real Sail Ends in Blasting Down the Channel at 20 Knots

Yesterday was our first real sail following the complete refit of Le Pingouin. We took off from the marina at about 11:00am and headed out of Charleston Harbor. The weather was looking perfect for a true test of our complete new sail inventory. Farley with Quantum Sails was onboard, along with my crew, volunteers, and a computer specialist who continues to dial in the nav station equipment and offshore communications.

We had some real breeze once we were out of the harbor, but everything went as smoothly as I could hope for. We started with 3 reefs in the mainsail and the staysail, then 2 reefs in the mainsail and the solent, and worked our way up to the gennaker. Of course we have a punch list of things to do after this initial outing and some refining to do on the deck layout, but overall this baby can run!

On our way back into the harbor in the late afternoon we were blasting down the channel at 20 knots. We will continue to tweak and tune the boat on another sail today. Thanks to Dustin Ryan for enduring the rough weather to capture images and John Bowden for driving the chase boat!

Cheers,
Brad

Photo by Dustin K. Ryan

Photo by Dustin K. Ryan

Getting Close to Launch

I am excited to report that Le Pingouin has moved out of the shed. She is looking great and we are on our way to having the keel installed. Installing a canting keel into one of these boats is a very involved process. We’ve used hydraulic jacks to pump the keel up into the bottom of the boat. CMMC Machine has made some beautiful new stainless steel parts for us and all of their machine work looks to be spot on. The crew at Detyens Shipyard has once again proved they are real pros. After we get the keel affixed to the boat, we’ll move on to putting the rig together and getting this baby in the water. Enjoy the photos below!

Thanks for checking in,
Brad