David had told me he'd ordered a sailboat from Europe. In the general everyday turmoil, I had stored that information at the back of my mind (right at the back in fact), and when Anthony came back with it from his shopping trip to SA, my interest was renewed.
On Friday afternoon, the tide was low, we could not go out to sea, I set about assembling the little cat. It's a portable cat, one you can store in the trunk of your car (see the commercial blurb here)
All the while, Rod Stewart was singing...
The assembly was a little puzzling at first, but between the three of us, we quickly figured out what goes where.
Then the moment of truth, will she sail?
Sailing she did! Wow! What a performance!
I must admit to being a little skeptical at first. Come on, an inflatable cat?
The wind was very light when we put her in the water, Anthony and I climbed aboard, and after fiddling with the jib sheets and the rudder for a little while, we got on our way. The boat itself is very light, and even with our combined weights (Anthony pointed out that he's heavy with knowledge, I'm still looking for an excuse), the sudden acceleration with every puff of wind was impressive.
We decided to do a crossing as a maiden voyage, so set course to sail past our buoy at Legoland, to the other side of the lagoon.
We appreciated the fact that the boat is fast, we didn't even have time to get bored, and once we reached the shallows on the other side, tacked to come back.
This is my first experience with a small cat, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The return, in even lighter breeze, was quite fast, I was thrilled with the capabilities of this vessel. We will definitely be getting a few more of these boats, and some of the larger version, this is a two person cat, we also want to get the four passenger ones.
The next day, Ernesto, our local skipper, came for a short sail with me and loved the fact that the boat was going "too much fast", without a need for petrol or oars. Quite a few of us have been pondering on how the locals here use oars to move their boats, and none of them use sails, where it would seem an obvious choice for such a protected, enclosed area.
The next day, Ernesto, our local skipper, came for a short sail with me and loved the fact that the boat was going "too much fast", without a need for petrol or oars. Quite a few of us have been pondering on how the locals here use oars to move their boats, and none of them use sails, where it would seem an obvious choice for such a protected, enclosed area.
Stay tuned for more diving news, don't hold your breath,
Daniel ;-)
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