This past Fourth of July a number of close friends and I went camping at Evangola State Park (pictures coming so check back) to hang out on the beach and of course do a little bit of sailing. I arrived on the 3rd in order to set up the camp site and prepare for the Holiday weekend of festivities. My Fleet was also having their 4th of July BBQ that day and my friends were invited to join in on the food and drink.

After introducing my gaggle of misfits to the rest of the fleet members and completed a bit of winch work on my boat trailer, I trackered the "Blue Torpedo" down to the beach and set the main. Now it was just a matter of choosing who I could take out for a pleasure cruise. Of course I never just go out for a pleasure cruise - each adventure on the water as of lately has brought some excitement and I was a bit worried about my cargo.

My buddy Pete and his girlfriend Kelly joined me and we headed out about 2 miles from shore in order to catch the offshore wind. This had proven to be successful -thanks to the tutelage of my fellow fleet members- and I was sailing with the strongest wind I have encountered before. At times we even had one hull out of the water and if Pete knew what to do, it would have bee trapeze time for him. Instead we just leaned into the port hull for counter weight and let Kelly man the Jib as she drug her feet along the rushing water.

After sailing back and forth a few times we decided to go back to shore so I could pick up a few new passengers for another pleasure cruise around the lake. Due to the wind I was heading into shore much faster than I was use to and was unclear on when to furl the Jib and pull up the dagger boards. Once I reached a close enough distance to shore I furled the Jib and pulled up the dagger boards, forgetting about the rudders. As I landed on the beach I heard a crack N' Snap which worried me. I knew it couldn't be good and that I shouldn't even turn around to look at what had broken, but I did and I saw that I had broken one of my rudders in half right at the gudgen.

I held my composure well - like all skippers should, because this is the nature of the sport and things will break when mistakes are made. Thanks to the assistance of my fleet, the rudders will be ready for this weekend, but for the rest of the camping trip there was no more sailing on the "Blue Torpedo".