My first choice to test out the new Flat Earth rig was my local beach at Villes Martin, Magic Seaweed was predicting Bf4 along this stretch of coast all morning, I was a bit concerned that this may be a little high for a first outing…. I’ve never sailed before !
However at 9am after a 5 minute walk I was at the head of the beach with my Anenometer it recorded Zero ! I decided to go further west to Pornichet which is more open to a Westerly, sure enough as I approached the Sea Front flags were fluttering nicely I measured a 7 knot steady wind
The sun was shining, a bright 18°C I parked the sail for launching and was soon paddling forward into the wind.
Having put some distance between myself and the shore, before I even thought about sailing I practiced raising and lowering the sail, all was fine everything running smothly.
I headed straight into the wind then pulled the mainsheet to allow the sail to fill. Then I noticed in my haste during the setup, I had assembled the boom joint upsidedown leaving the sail twisted, so back to the beach to correct it.
Again once on the water I headed off into the wind and raised the sail, pulled the mainsheet bringing the boom in closer and the sail filled nicely turning me to Port and I was Sailing !
Over the course of the next hour my confidence increased, along with the wind strength ! I was sailing along anywhere between 3knots and 6knots, it truly was great fun and I learned how to turn into the wind and with the wind behind. I alm looking forward to my next trip