Before taking the Beagle out to the Hourglass Pond for a second sail I needed to do some refurbishing from the previous outing. I added the main course to the sail plan, tightened eight standing rigging lines and re-rigged the rudder. Even with the poop deck able to lift up, getting your hands and/or tweezers into the rudder area is still tricky. At one point I had my wife see if she could have better luck at it.

We were going to go to the Indiana State Fair on Sunday, but after the tragic stage crash, everything got cancelled for the day. Since I had some unexpected free time in the afternoon I decided to take the Beagle solo to the Hourglass Pond. There was a nice 13 mph wind at first, that gradually died down to about 8 mph by the end.

I decided to be brave and launch from the wide, windward side of the pond. After pushing her out the main top sail slipped off one side of the bottom spar. Ugh. At the time I thought the spar had actually broke off.

But sail she did anyway. As she went along she apparently began to ship some water. Didn't think she was getting much. Guess I was wrong. Suddenly, as she's out in the middle of the pond, she stops responding. I had just recharged the batteries. Something's wrong.

So she continues to sail along, looking a bit battered with her arrant main sail. As she finally starts to get close to the far shore she is more visibly taking on water... and sinking.

So out I go for a swim as the deck submerges. I pulled her to shore, glad I had spent some time before practicing my one-armed recovery swim. I hauled her back on shore and dumped out the water. Yup, my waterproof box was full of water. The receiver was toast, but at least the servos all survived.

So, an adventurous outing it was. I doubt I will get the image of her stern going under, with the whaleboats afloat, out of my mind anytime soon. Next outing I'll have a bilge pump on board with its own power source.

The Beagle in Ordinary