Day 209
Days remaining 24

Launched!!

Under leaden Suffolk skies, the Blackbird first took flight

25 June 2014

Well we're down inside a month and the last month has been hectic as you can imagine.

I managed to get some time to finish the boat and launch it... A few teething problems but nothing major major to sort.  A nice lesson in [re]learning to fly by the new boat, in that I'd wound in too much rudder foil and it went from light on the helm to very light, to tiller extension snatched from the hand and windward capsized.... It's the relationship between the gantry and the rudder angle of course, and pretty easy to get wrong for a first time out (and pretty easy to fix in time for the next hop)

I felt a little beaten up by the boat, but I think that was the stress of the day and the driving to and from Suffolk and just using muscles I haven't used in a while, but now it's time to shut up and drive - after I fix the rudder issue and the tiny crack I found in the starboard wing on inspection.  Other than that, all good.

D