With the boat being clean and fully set up, and with Patti taking the day off to go to the beach, I decided to take an after work sail last night.

I left the office a little before 5 (after spending the day in Providence), with the sun shining and the wind at about 10 knots. The engine started right up, and once it warmed up a bit, I throttled way back while I took the sail cover off and did the normal checks. As I was casting off, I thought the engine sounded weak, so I hurried up to get off the dock before she stalled. After pushing off, I got in the cockpit and tried to put the engine in gear. Stall. I was able to quickly restart, but my heart was in my mouth for a bit as I floated in the fairway uncontrolled.

Once out in the river, I noticed many other sailboats leaving or getting ready to go out; I realized that I was in the midst of Wednesday night racing. Nice to see everyone going out at once. I passed my old dock at Goodsell, and saw how few boats were there; I doubt the place is 20% full. I saw Berci's boat "Claudia", but Scooch and the two Irwins are gone. Scott's boat was in its usual slip, but with no boom or sails. Carlo's boat was there too.

Once past the Little Mermaid (I cut the corner, as it was close to high tide), I raised sail: full main and genny. I sailed out past the reefs without having to tack. Winds were from the southwest at about 10 knots. I adjusted the sails on course towards the Reef. I used the vang to put some twist in the main. Hukilau hit almost 5 knots, but mostly sailed in the 4's.

As I got closer to the Reef marker, the sun was going down and the wind was weakening, so I changed course to the northwest. I was sailing a little further off the wind than the previous course, and the wind picked up as I got closer to land. I hit 6.1 knots according to the GPS!

The shrouds on both sides need to be tightened! The lee shrouds were actually flopping about. Must do that before the next sail.

When I went to start the engine to go back in, it wouldn't start. I had a little scare there as I thought I might be close to flooding the engine, but it did start and ran fine back to the dock. No problems docking.