Simple single handing

I single handed my boat for the first time today.  There was no wind, so I practiced docking and backing.  Docking in these conditions is pretty trivial - but as there were more things to do than usual, the extra time I had due to the boat not being blown around came in handy.  My slip-neighbors are gone for the rest of the week, so its a good time to experiment a little as I can't run them down.

Backing this boat up is a real challenge.  I spent around an hour trying to back it where I wanted out off the break water at Shilshole.  I would like to be able to motor backwards in a box.  Straight, turn, straight, turn, etc back to where I started.  This is very doable in a boat with a sail drive/fin keel/spade rudder.  So far Luckness, with her longer keel, skeg, aperature prop and canoe stern can do a backwards wiggle, which is good, except that its a random walking wiggle.  Backing needs more work.

The view from my slip isn't so bad, a nice way to finish the evening.