After five winters of enjoyable boat building I have finally completed my first sails on the first Pocketship in Finland.
What a great little boat! In light air it didn't go very fast, but on the second sail, with the wind around 8 gusting to above 10 knots it was some great sailing! I live by a small lake and the first two sails were on it. Just under 3 nm across it is great for dinghy sailing and trying out the pocketship.
I named her Kuutti, which means a seal pup in Finnish.
After a few years of sailing an RS Aero, the boat feels quite heavy and unresponsive, but I am well aware this is expected as the Aero hull weight is 66 lb. On the good side I love how stable the Pockethip is compared to a dinghy and how the rudder seems to hold even in strong gusts.
On the first sail after getting out I raised the sails, wondered why things don't feel right and realized the centerboard wasn't down. It would not budge and I finally took the sails down, climbed inside and was able to release it. On the second sail it did work but definitely something to check before leaving dock.
I initially did not like the orginal jib halyard setup but in a stronger wind they actually work really well. Doing beam reach I could sit in a single location with the jib halyard going across the companionway hatch and it was easy to release and adjust the jib.
Anyway, thank you everyone for the good advice I got from this discussion board!
Happy sailing!
Pasi
