Sunday, Oct. 17.

We left the girls at home to work on their homework and so that we could play around with the boat and help Jody get more accustomed to and comfortable with sailing.

I can't imagine a more perfect day for sailing. Wind, weather and waves combined for about the best sailing you could ask for. The wind was from the west at about 12-16 knots.

We motored for only about 15 minutes and put the sails up shortly after leaving the Queens Creek inlet, then ran downwind out of Hills Bay and out the mouth of the Piankatank and into the Bay. This gave us the opportunity to gybe a few times - something I had yet to do with Grizabella.

We ran wing and wing for a while, because the course I wanted required us to run just about dead downwind, and the jib kept deflating. I was being very cautious to avoid the accidental gybe.

When the time came to gybe, it was almost anti-climactic. It was smooth and easy. We did a couple more on our way out of the river, and the GPS showed us clipping right along at over 6.5 knots, occasionally hitting 7 or slightly more, thanks to the current at the mouth of the river.



Once out into the Bay, we turned south east for a little while, and then decided we were hungry, so I hove to and we ate lunch while enjoying the absolutely fantastic weather. Did I mention the weather was perfect?



Sheet in the jib, straighten out the tiller and she takes off right quick and next thing you know, we're headed towards Stingray Point. Nearly there, Jody decides she's starting to feel a little "motion discomfort". Waves in the bay were maybe 2 feet. The river was much flatter, plus we had been out about 2 hours by then, so we decided we might as well start heading in. As this would require upwind sailing, it was just as well, since it would take a while to get all the way back to the inlet.

We headed south and tacked next to Gwynne Island, then headed north past the green number 3 channel marker heading right at Stingray Point. Another tack and we're in the mouth of the Piankatank heading towards Gwynne Island. On the next one, we're heading towards Stove Point Neck.

I could not have planned it as perfectly as it turned out. The fifth tack, done right in front of the red number 6 marker, put us on a perfect straight line down the narrow part of the river between the Stove Point Neck and Cherry Point shoals. That gave us a nice broad reach down into Hills Bay.



Cruising along very nicely and easily at 6.5 knots with the weather perfect and a couple hours of daylight left, I really didn't want to take the sails down. But alas, the Queens Creek inlet was approaching and we had to get back home. So I reluctantly stowed the sails and fired up the engine and we made our way back to the dock.

An absolutely wonderful day, and one much too short.