Update, 7/21/2008

After almost a year and a half since her maiden voyage, the Left Foot has been out on countless cruises. Since then, I have made many improvements. As any boat builder will tell you, you're never really finished with a boat; there will always be something else that needs to be added or fixed.

First, I added a spray skirt made from shade cloth over the bow (an idea I borrowed from Errol Smith's Trikye down in Australia). This is very good at knocking down the spray when sailing into the wind in water with a moderate chop.

Then, I attached a push-pull tiller to supplement the foot pedal rudder controls. Now, I can decide whether I want to control the rudder with my legs or my arms (or both). I also redesigned the foot pedal controls, ditching the low-quality plastic foot pedals for homemade wooden sliding pedals. Now I can really bear down on the rudder, even when I've got a good deal of weather helm in heavier breezes.

I also added some cleats to the tops of the foot pedals to allow me to cleat the rudder in place as a kind of "autopilot" when I need to tend to something else while making way.

Here is a good look at the boat head-on, showing the new spray skirt.

I designed a solar-powered battery charger to keep my small battery charged, and mounted the solar panel on top of the rear hatch. In full sunlight, it can completely charge a dead battery in about 8 hours.

Since I had a new source of electrical power, I mounted a 500 gallon-per-hour electric bilge pump behind my seat in the cockpit, and I ran wire to power my hand-held GPS off of the battery.

Last but not least, I mounted a 2.5 HP Yamaha 4-stroke outboard motor to the port side aft crossbeam. This is very nice to have if the wind dies or if I have to leave the dock directly into the wind.

Here I have changed my heading, and I'm hauling in the mainsail.

With the main hauled in further, we start to gain more speed.

With the sails hauled in pretty tight, I point the boat back home.