On August 11th, 2019, the ABORA team set the big square sail for the first time. The joy was great, to see how our new reed boat picked up speed and was willing to steer. The ship luffed with appropriate maneuvers immediately and could be controlled with a jibe even across the wind.
That this worked was not a matter of course. The team had almost no time to train extensively before sailing maneuvers or calm down to prepare for the first trip. Until dropping was tied, screwed and loaded the boat. Only 30 min. before dropping off, the heavy and huge square sail was raised for the very first time on the mast. Everything had to be done in great speed, but without haste, so that everything would work out in the upcoming first sailing attempt.
The pictures show that the reed boat is well in the water. The mast and the rigging work. Some swords are still a bit stuck, but in the next few days we will eliminate these teething problems. Parallel to the work on the boat, further work on the rigging has to be done, the provisions have to be bought and safely stowed away. So there is still much to do before we can actually set sail at the end of this week.
