A Sunny Fall Outing

As winter is upon us and flurries fill Pennsylvania skies, my heart was warmed by a recent email from my friend Paul whose sailing companion had captured some pictures of my little C-Lute having a sunny fall adventure.

Here she is, ready to catch the breeze...

...moving right along.

Even though I want to sail C-Lute most of the time, I always want to take the oars along because I love to snuggle up into little coves and inlets where the water gets thin, the air bends light and squirrely and bird-watching becomes fascinating.



I figured out a convenient way to store the oars out of the way whilst sailing. 

You'll notice that the oar locks are sitting in the front rowing station (sockets). They are folded one blade on top of the other at the bow and rest on the forward transom where they are secured with a bungee. This arrangement works very well while sailing. You can sit anywhere in the boat without the oars getting in the way.

This method works very well with the balanced lug. The mast does not have any shrouds or forestay and it is easy to drop the canvas and roll up together with yard and boom.

You could then row immediately. However, I also like to lift the mast out and lay it so that the top end of it is secured at the bow with the self-same bungee.

It is possible to lay mast on one side and the sail, boom and yard on the other in such a way that they do not interfere with rowing.

The gunter rig would obviously preclude such maneuver while at sea.