First sailing this season - the plan was…

There was no plan.
Just to sail Louve out and see where we go.

Forecast told 5 m/s East-Southeast, with gusts up to 14 m/s. Typical wind in our area.
Sunny, dry - perfect weather for shakedown sail.
We launched close to noon, no major issues apart from some fallen trees after winter. I had to cut them to get through, it took a while with a hand saw.

I did not want any drama today so prudently put one reef. We went out on engine, picked up a buoy and sorted ropes out on water.

With easterly wind my channel gets confused wind, comes from all possible directions so it was a game of patience to go only on sails. At times it blew nothing, just to switch to hard breeze making me thankful I put this reef in.

Most of the time dead-head-wind thou. We sailed Vätösund all the way South, to reach Norrtäljeviken. At the South entrance there are shallows and stones, with narrow passage between.

Louve is a shallow boat which makes it a bit easier there but she does not sail too narrow to wind. And it was blowing dead against us there.

Tacking in tight space we finally went through. Entering cross-ways into Viken I realized one reef was too little: it was really blowing there, Norrtäljeviken being open East-West.

Well, shakedown it will be, I thought, and we sailed into dark water with rage.
Louve was healing heavily and almost taking water through gunnels. We sailed onto the other side of the basin and tacked towards East.

At that point I decided it will not be wise to sail her downwind with so much sail so we gained some height to get back in half-wind into Vätösund.
This stubborn sailing in Sundet took so much time that it was time to get back anyway.

With the wind now behind us I carried on on sails as long as it was steady.
Deeper back in the Sund the wind started its tricks again, switching to all possible directions. I made my mind when finally I got caught in irons tacking too close to the pontoon on West side - the boat stalled when the wind changed and started to go backwards, towards the pontoon.

There was a moment of panic onboard.
Quick seconds of consideration what should I protect from a crash - a rudder or an engine?

Good thing Louve is a lightweight boat. Would it be Meritaten we would have a nice crash. Here I managed to stop her from crashing just with my arms, diverted the momentum sideways, switched the sail and pushed us away from danger.

No harm done to anything but my pride.

We sailed a bit longer until the wind became crazy and weak.
I got enough.
It was no fun anymore, sitting there and being slapped into head by sail switching sides all the time.

Down with rags and iron genua woke up to life.
Soon the wind died anyway.

A bit of a fight every time I take the sail down: the yard swings, often landing parts of the sail in a drink.
I need to leave the rudder to go to the mast - even with tiler impeder it makes the boat swing as I move to the fore. I am considering taking the halyard all the way to back, to have it at hands for quick and controlled sail hosting & dropping.

I tried dousing lines like Tim Cook on his Ilur but it did not work for me - they were getting in a way and tangled the sail when hoisting. Something to think about before next sailing.

We arrived at the slip happy and tired.

I was confident I got retrieving my boat sorted but apparently not this time.
I did not notice that she went up the trailer tilted, causing her to fall from bottom rollers.

Noticed that too late - already on the hill above the harbor. Didn’t feel like re-launching her to fix it so we drove very slowly home. I decided to fix it there.

I could rig chain blocks and lift her up from the trailer but that’s a lot of work. Besides - no fun.
Instead we resorted to ancient technology of blocks and levers.

First thing - detach the trailer from the car.
Zonk!
Paddle-lock got stuck!
Never again cheap paddle-locks from Biltema!

I had to cut the damn thing off.
Then I lowered front end of the trailer all the way to the ground.

That lifted aft of the boat high enough to place wooden blocks under the keel.

Now with the front maneuvering-wheel of the trailer I lifted her up cranking it all the way up. It took a few stages, with blocks placed here and there but finally I had the boat above the back part of the trailer.
With long beam, for good leverage, I managed to shift her back into central position and straighten the position.
Good, old-school technology!

So shakedown sail is done.
Conclusions:

take first-aid kit onto the boat (I cut my hand nicely when launching her)
consider moving the halyard to the aft

Building Louve can be found here