Took my sister sailing on my new boat for the first time late morning in 9 to 15 knots of breeze, and with the main up, we travelled down Round Bay to Sherwood Forest and back, occasionally hitting 5 knots with just the main up. Great time!
At 6:30 pm the same evening had a glorious 2 hour sail, again down to Sherwood Forest and back, this time with main and genoa in steady 9-10 knots of breeze. A great time!
Had a good, long race in wind that started out around 9 and then dropped to 3 when we rounded the last mark and turned downwind and put up the spin, but we persevered, the wind filled in, and we finished fifth out of 10.
Had a buddy out who wanted to practice open water swimming, and afterward we took Lark out for an hour into 7 or so knots of breeze and had a grand time.
Nothing like getting off the phone calls and then taking the boat out. On Thursday, it was great to get on the boat and take her out after the battery charger for the house battery had been replaced, and then on Friday to take the boat out with a fully charged house battery for the first time in two months. Now all I have for warranty work is a gelcoat fix!
Beautiful sunny evening in the upper 70's with 6 knots of breeze to start, dropping to 2-4 ish. Caught up to some of the bigger boats on our downwind leg, which oddly enough turned into another upwind leg when the wind shifted dramatically. Great night out on the water. Since we had the spin all rigged up we popped her after we finished and then tooled around Round Bay with our spin until the wind finally died.
Out daughter and a friend wanted to try water-skiiing and tubing, so we got the boat out of the boatel and brought it up from Annapolis to Round Bay and had several hours of fun attempting the former and accomplishing the latter. And then took the boat back to the boatel before the rain started in earnest. A great day!
Great to take the boat out at 6:15 and sail until 8, when the sun goes down. Did so on two successive days after lots of issues at work. Nothing like single-handing in the evening on an 8 knot breeze!
On Sunday, May 14, had a friend out from Half Moon Bay, CA, and took her sailing in 8 knots of breeze. Had a wonderful time with her steering. First with just the main, and then eventually adding the genoa. Tacked upwind to Mark B and then had a beautiful downwind run back to E and home. 3 hours, 7 miles.
On Monday, May 15, used my sailboat as a painting platform and motored over to Sullivan Cove and dropped anchor so my friend could get our her sketch pad and watercolors. Gave me a good chance to clean the boat, so we had a nice time sitting at anchor, gently getting pushed back and forth by a gentle 5 knot breeze. Lovely time.
Finally made it back on to the boat two weeks running, and had a great time.
Wednesday, May 10 was our second race of the season, and we came in fourth out of eight, beating all the other boats in our start, but remaining behind past fleet champions in a Catalina 27 and two Johnson 18's. Long upwind to Sherwood forest and back, which gave us a chance to best our fleet on the upwind and use our spin, for the first time in competition, downwind. Did decently, though with practice should be able to get our angles better. With 3 of our 4 regular crew and a great pick-up crew member, we're getting better about handling the boat.
Wednesday, May 17 gave us lots and lots of experience on sail trim changes with 6 or 7 mark roundings, and two downwind legs. Our spin jibing got better as the night went on, and our upwind genoa handling continues to improve -- with better tacks each time. Still had 3 of our regular crew with one ringer, who helped us a lot. Beautiful night out with strong breeze throughout, including after the race was over and the sun went down.
Went out for two hours, covering 4.8 nautical miles, during which the wind had kicked up to 13 knots and we had whitecaps. Had the main up only while my brother steered and I handled the sheets, eventually came back into Valentine Creek and put up the genoa and then went back into the fresh breeze with it, moving along 2 knots faster. Saw friends heading out for a weekend shakedown cruise and tacked several times to come close to them, sailing close-hauled at about 6.2 knots, at which point they took the attached photo. We had a blast!