Well, yesterday was a big day for us. Dave came over at around 9:00 and it was a perfect day to get the sails on. The Head Sail went on real easy and in no time, we had it hoisted up and had it furled. The main sail took a little longer as it is much larger and we had to put battens in the sail once we had it on. Our main sail has 2 reefs in it and we spent some time trying to figure out how to set up the reefing lines, but were unsuccessful - needs to go on our To-Do list and get that figured out. When the wind starts blowing hard, you can reduce you sail size by putting a reef in the sail, so its very important that we get this figured out.

After lunch it was now time to actually take the boat out. Leaving the dock was very easy as the boat was pointing out, so I just had to drive forward and there were no obstacles in my way. We headed down the east river and followed it out all the way to the ocean - about 5 or 6 miles. We motored all the way there and then turned around and put out the Head Sail and sailed back. The wind was light and with only the one sail up we didn't get going too fast. I think our top speed was about 5 knots. But it was a very enjoyable day. The weather was beautiful. We passed lots of boat that were shrimping and saw numerous dolphins. We did have one small issue. When it came time to roll up the sails , I tried to start the engines, but got nothing except a clicking noise. After a bit of scrambling around and jiggling the battery connections, we got the engines running again and headed back to the dock. We were hoping to come back to the slip we had been using on dock 1, but the dockmaster directed us to the last slip on dock 3. This was my first time docking the boat, so everyone was a little nervous. Because the boat has 2 engines, steering is very different than the boat we were used to in Vancouver. But with the 2 engines, you actually have more control, once you get the hang of it. Bringing the boat in, I did not steer with the wheel, but just used the 2 engines to maneuver. I was lucky and got it right the first time and pulled into the slip without a problem. It was a great day and was real nice to take the boat out. But we did add some new items to the To-Do list, which always seems to be growing. There is a couple of new pictures put up in the photo gallery.