First Sail of the Season
04 May 2010 | Hampton, VA
Steve
March 25th, 2010
As today dawned really nice we decided to go out for the first sail of the 2010 season. It was a bit cool so we took out jackets with us and headed down to Snoodle Time.
We made preparations to leave the dock - double checking ourselves as we were a bit rusty from the winter. We did manage to cast off all the dock lines and power cord without incident, backed out of the slip and headed into the creek without incident.
Of course Steve was excited because it would be the first sailing test of the new autopilot, Dexter II. He had already completed the in port testing and sea trials, but we still needed to see it work while sailing. If not, what was the point of an autopilot for a sailboat?
As we motored out to the creek, we hoisted the main and headed down the creek. The winds were as forecasted, moderate and as we sailed out towards the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel we settled down for a nice day on the water. We contemplated heading out into the bay, but we started seeing gusts of 20 knots and a few that were higher. Since this was our FIRST sail of the season, we quickly figured it would be better to stay south of the HRBT in calmer waters and foil trouble.
We turned south and called our friends Dorothy and Clayton on Shadefish, who were also enjoying a sail to see where they were. Modern electronics such as cell phone certainly are wonderful. No radio chatter for us... they had rounded the Middle Ground Lighthouse and were heading towards the Elizabeth River. We figured that would be a good course for us to follow too, so off we went in a south westerly direction, with the wind and waves off our port quarter. We made good time and Dexter was doing pretty good seeing as the winds would come and go as well as the waves knocking us off course a bit. Overall Dexter did well and he has been accepted as a member of our fine crew.
We never did catch up with Shadefish that day. They did have a mechanical breakdown (minor of sorts) and were motoring back to the marina. Somehow they managed to escape our watch.
We did not quite make it to the lighthouse as the winds were shifting, so we came about 180 degrees and made our way back to the HRBT. Of course the winds and tides were against us, so tacking was in order to make it back around to home.
We made a successful docking with the yacht club members watching as they always do when we come and go. To their chagrins, we docked without issues and go tied up to the docks. Clayton and Dorothy came by later on to share victory drinks and sea stories.
A great start to the new season.