Thanks, all for your comments.  I am definitely going to move to the slug system for the main!  I should get a tiller tender or similar system too.  I've been happily and less-than-happily amazed at how this M17 can turn *fast*, practically spinning on a dime.  My thoughts wandered to the article in the Small Craft Advisory mag, about sea anchors, when I was wishing I could keep the boat into the wind.  I wonder if I could drag a sea anchor off the bow, and it would point right up, until I get a tiller tender system. I will definitely try hoisting the jib first next time, Tim.  That had never occured to me!  Another acquaintance who sails suggested raising the main at the dock, but I worry, with my novice docking skills, about handling the boat with the sail up.  If it turned out to be a problem, getting the main down in a hurry isn't easy either if no one is there to steer for me. It sounds like I don't need to worry about the cb noise then.  I just kept imagining that poor pin and that old fiberglass getting slammed, and that skinny 5/16 line holding it up...  I'll be thinking wistfully of Griselda's fixed keel next outing, but also grinning, thinking of the noise as "The Bear"!  (I had been imagining it as a wild Nunchuck battle!)  We have an extra bad spouting problem because the line entry hole was damaged somehow, and is quite large.  (Didn't have the patience to fix it at the boat yard)  I have it, un-seamanly-like, stuffed with a small towel.  I just wanted to get sailing, so will deal with it this winter.  More sunshine in the next couple of days, so hoping to get out and do some more learning and soaking up the fun.  I can only imagine sailing in 100 degree, windy weather!  Your sails would be self-drying.  I love driving through that Okanagan lake area, we've camped there a few times too, on our way south to WA. Danelle "Ceto" m17 #378 Ketchikan, AK ----- Original Message ---- From: Tim Diebert <tim@timtone.com> To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 8:10:09 AM Subject: Re: M_Boats: first singlehanding

Hi Danelle

. The good news is, due to the boltrope system on the main, I am finally ready to publish my "Alaskan Profanity Encyclopedia"!  Ha ha.  With no one to keep the boat pointed into the wind, I had a *really* annoying time trying to get that sail up!  The $60 pre-feeder we bought awhile ago was a total failure.  The sail got mashed up in it worse than it gets fouled up in the mast slot.  I think it was designed for a stiffer sail. 

For what it's worth, I usually set the headsail on a starboard tack before hoisting main. That way I can get the boat settled on a (strbd) beam reach, get my butt on the coach roof and work the main up.

I was heeled about 25 degrees for about 45 minutes straight, and one question I have for you guys is, how typical is it, for the centerboard to bang around while close hauled?  We got used to it banging when we'd run downwind (then we'd reel it up), but is it normal for it to bang around while beating into the wind?  How much stress can the pins and cb slot handle?  I did have a wild current pushing against the wind, and some crazy washtub like wave action, so with the strong heeling, I was thinking the waves must have been pushing the cb around more than normal?

My never bangs to wind but does downhill....and I often crank it up downwind.

This was such an amazingly fun sail, even if I was alone.  The genoa dragging into the bright, sharp waves, the sunshine, the slice of the hull against the saltwater...aaaahhh.  It was awesome!

I have had many days like that this season already. What fun! Good for you...SAIL ON.

Off for another day in Paradise. Cheers, Tim and his M17 PUFF on Canada's Med...... Okanagan Lake. (gonna be 100 degrees today....and windy) _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats