Hi All,
Not a ton of activity on this forum, so I thought I'd make a post. The weather has finally warmed enough that I put my new T2 down on the beach this weekend. The water is still a chilly ~40F so I haven't risked capsizing yet. I put the boat in Saturday at a public beach on Lake Superior about 2 miles down the beach from home (our lot is too heavily wooded to get the assembled cat in/out). Unfortunately the wind on Saturday was pretty light at ~5 knots, and just before I got home dropped to 1 knot. So I didn't get the best feel for the boat.
Here are some pictures of the boat and my first sail:
http://imgur.com/a/M1au9 I have 4 summers of small boat sailing under my belt, with the last 3 on an early 70's Hobie 14 that was in pretty poor condition. Here are my thoughts so far on the T2:
Rigging went smooth, and the mast is easy enough to lift with one person on the tramp and another to start lifting it and pin the jib/forestay. I can get beach wheels under it and move it around on relatively flat beach myself, but taking it up an incline requires 2+ people (or I have an ATV winch setup as the beach at home is very steep thanks to some erosion and high lake levels). Note, I'm a 150lb 35y/o guy in decent shape. I absolutely love the new rudder system and traveler compared to my old 14! Such a world of difference! I will probably upgrade the sail bag at some point as it already has a few small holes in it (I think from the battens, or maybe it caught on something on the cross bar as I was pulling it over the rolled up sail? The snorkel seems fine, but will likely be the first thing that will need replacing since I will be storing the boat mast up all summer. I'm guessing I'll get a few seasons out of it at least though, and that's a small price for mast up storage and a roller furler.
Sunday we had a north wind and the lake was choppy and full of white caps so I didn't go out as I'm too chicken to capsize by myself with the 40 degree water. This morning was a different story though. We had 10-15 knots coming off the shore which leaves the water smooth. I went out solo and the boat was a pleasure! It's very stable, and could have easily flown a hull. I hiked out a bit and had the hull mostly out of the water a number of times, but again didn't push it. I do want to practice capsize/recovery before I really push this boat. My area has very little boat traffic, and I didn't see anyone or hear a peep on my handheld VHF this morning.
I'm really looking forward to getting out with a crew, practicing capsize recovery and learning to trap out on this boat. It is going to be a great summer!
edit: I should also note that in 10-15 knot winds I was cruising at about 8 knots, regularly went over 10 knots and hit 12 knots at the top end (according to my GPS watch). I could have sheeted in and had some more speed I'm sure.