Full Crew sail - March 5

Finally got the first mate (wife) to agree to a sail. Small craft advisory out, but as it had seemed - like the past few sails that there was no reason for it... at least when we left the dock! Put the mainsail up after the turn at day mark 7 in Langford Creek and the engine was off soon thereafter as we tacked down the creek in a souther wind 8 - 12 knots.  Wind was steady, so we put Bubbles on a close reach and headed just south of Grays Inn Creek and then turned and put her on a beam reach and were making good speeds as we headed over to the mouth of the Corsica. Decided not to go down the Corsica, and instead stayed out in the basin, so we began heading, on a beam reach, back over towards the western shore of the Chester when the winds began to die off a bit and shift.  I knew the forecast was for the winds to shift about 1 - which happened, and they lightened up substantially - maybe 3 to 4 knots.  When the winds finally finished their shift, they picked up substantially - going from 3 knots to 15 without any warning - gusts 25+. First mate jumped right in and depowered the main, then began to furl up the genoa. That helped quite a bit, allowing us to control the heeling and the boat.  On a broad reach, we sailed back up Langford Creek to our marina - Lankford Bay Marina under some continually strong winds.  At the turn to day mark 7 with the engine on, we were able to safely furl the remainder of the genoa, and then drop the main. A good first sail - even though difficult - because we handled it well - cool, calm and collective which made us both feel very good! Glad I wasn't out there singlehanded... would have been quite a bit more difficult! Pictures only of the easy stuff - we were a bit busy later!!