I finally got a cat box and wheels and went to Mission Bay San Diego for the weekend to sail my new Blade.

I took a long time to get it ready because I didn't want to screw something up and have to come back to shore which would make my wife very unhappy.

I was plesantly supprised how easy it was to handle the rudders using the line setup by VWM . The boat handled well immediately. The ride was very smooth and steering was much more precise than my H20. It really seemed to plane in flat water when our weight was properly adjusted. It was very easy to control even in the puffs in the back bay. We didn't use the Spin the first day because it was to windy and I didn't want to screw it up. The boat sailed very well downwind even without the spin using the traveler on the main. The Main Sail was the best I have seen with all telltails flowing and breaking uniformly all the way up.

The boat handled fantastic in all points of sail but the most amazing thing about the boat was tacking. At least half of my tacks felt like a small dingy because it would turn and immediately start moving on the new tack. No other cat I have driven has tacked so fast. With a little practice I should be able to make all my tacks this fast. This should make for an interesting tacking dual with a Tiger.

I did get to use the trapeeze a few times and was able to drive the boat hard. With the puffs I could never dial it in and really cruise like I do in the ocean. We are used to trapeezing much sooner with our previous boats, P19/H20. This is the only drawback we have by moving to a smaller boat. This compromise was because we wanted a much lighter boat with a Spin my wife could easily handle. I am interested in the boats abililty to allow us both to trapeeze when we are in more consistent wind that allows it. We did begin to stuff the hull a little on a few runs across the bay but were chicken to push it to hard the first day because of the gusty conditions and cold water.

We went into the ocean for a few minutes to see how the boat behaved in swells and waves. It was not windy enough to judge but you could hear the hull slap. It rides very high for such a small boat. I mostly sail in the Gulf of California where the water is warm with only wind waves.

The second day we went out early to try out the Spin. After only a few practice runs we are already comfortable setting and jibing the Spin. Takedown will take more practice to get it smooth and fast. We only used the Spin in light wind but it was fun and made the beats back upwind seem to take forever compared to the down wind runs.

My wife and I are very pleased after the first two days. She was even talking about single handing it by herself with just the Main. We really like the light weight when moving it around the beach.

I plan to trick up the boat with quick release connections everywhere to make setup faster. I hope to have it in the ocean for more serious sailing in about a month.

I didn't get any pictures but hopefully will on our next next trip.

Stephen