New Boat 4 Sled

[sleddog]

Honored to be an invitee to the maiden launching of mini-MAGIC, on Monday I drove 3 hours south from CBC to Los Osos to find Craig and Vicky had their act together and had neatly loaded 6' MAGIC, keel, rig and sails, launching cart, sounding pole, waders, and mini-bottles of rum for the christening into the mini-van for an early, high tide, start Tues.



Tuesday dawned with perfect weather, clear with a light easterly, night drainage, offshore breeze, 2-5 knots. MAGIC was easily rigged in the parking lot at the kayak ramp at Morro Bay State Park. Masts were stepped, rigging turnbuckles snugged, keel attached, radio control adjustments checked, hatches snugged, and questions asked and answered to early riser passerbys.






At high tide, 8:30 a.m. Vicky did the honors of naming MAGIC and blessing her voyages with a dollop of rum. Craig in his waders wheeled MAGIC down the cinderblock ramp and into Morro Bay. We all held our breaths. With the necessary 28" of depth, Craig gently pushed MAGIC stern first off the cart and into her element...and she floated happily, exactly on her lines!

I was already afloat in my kayak, nearby, acting as tug if necessary. MAGIC's sails filled in the gentle breeze and off she went with Craig at the controls. Cheers erupted from the small crowd. Soon MAGIC began to feel the 5-6 knots of breeze in the marina entrance channel, and off she schooned with Vicky in her yellow kayak/canoe WOODSTOCK and myself in PADDLIN' MADELINE in chase. With MAGIC's sails trimmed on a beam reach she left a clean wake and was making an honest 2.5 knots. Over the course of the next 45 minutes Craig put MAGIC through her paces, tacking, gybing, beating, reaching, and running. My only job as tug came when MAGIC noticeably slowed when heeled over. At first we thought maybe she was aground on the nearby mudflats. But no, plenty of water measured with the sounding pole, it was just a collection of eel grass on her keel, something easily removed by coming alongside, rolling up my sleeve, and reaching underwater a half dozen times.



Too soon, the land breeze went light, and the sea breeze was yet a half hour from building as the tide began to fall, revealing Morro Bay's ubiquitous mud flats. I kayaked out to visit an osprey on an abandoned ketch while MAGIC was hauled, unrigged, and taken home for slight adjustments to the steering and sheeting. It was so much fun that we turned to an hour later the next morning, Wednesday, and found a little more breeze that sent MAGIC off at 2.5-3 knots, happy as you please.



Good job, Magicians! If you want to see a fun, short tour of the 40 foot schooner MAGIC, which Craig designed and was their home for many years and 25,000 miles of voyaging, you should visit this wonderful video taken by her current owners in Maine.
https://www.offcenterharbor.com/vide...Z5aBmGd.Q44w9k