[quote=Wolfman]Ha, yep did that first time out on the second year I had my 5.2 - a miserable mistake to make!. You learned lesson 1, always triple check your rigging before you head out (hard to do when you don't really know exactly how everything works yet). Nothing on a beachcat is easy to rerig on the water. And lesson 2, tape/file/cover all your sharp corners, those boats can bite! I've gashed my knees and legs so many times I almost always wear pants now.
Coming into shore with a boarded boat is always a bit of an adventure. You will learn to raise the lee board early and windward at the last moment. Also you will start to figure out how to manage speed coming in and dump wind. Rick White's videos are actually pretty good at showing some of those things, a little cheesy but worth it if you are a beginner (and a refresher at the beginning of the season).
You will need a crew for a while until you get better at boat handling and managing the work load. Before you start to solo you will likely want to to look into a few things. #1 a righting bag (Colorado bag company on ebay makes decent ones at a good price),#2 Roller furler for your jig, a really good way to reduce your workload in a hurry and a good way to depower when you get out of your depth. Also lets you depower coming into shore. And if you can't get the boat to tack you can unfurl in a pinch to give you more power in front of your pivot point (boards). #3 a good set of Cat Trax from florida sailcraft, these really make getting the boat to and from the water way easier. I only need mine a few times a year but they were worth every penny I paid![/quote]
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