Yesterday, Sunday, Patti and I went out for a sail. It was a real fall day; a mild one, but a fall day nonetheless. Weather was sunny, and if you were in the sun, it felt like it was in the mid-70's. However, in the shade, it felt like the mid-60's.

Sailflow said winds were going to be fairly light: 8-10 mph. But flags were flying and trees were bending, although at ground level it was difficult to tell.

We motored out into the harbor, and raised the main with a reef. Patti had suggested we leave it at that and not roll out the genny. When trying to figure out if that was going to be sufficient, I noticed that the mast top windvane was stuck: one of the indicator wires must have become bent up, keeping the vane from turning in that direction.

We unrolled a small amount of genny, and slowly sailed out into the Sound. There was some wind, then no wind, and it was difficult to tell where it was coming from. We unrolled the full genny, and finally picked up a good breeze. After sailing for a few minutes, we saw a big gust coming from the northeast. It was on us, and we began to heel. Too much for Patti. I dialed in the genny, but it was still too much heeling and we decided to go back in. Once we fully furled the genny, the sailing actually became nice with just the reefed main up. We sailed into the Harbor, struck the main, went back to the dock, broke out the books and read some before heading home.

Given our schedule for the upcoming weeks, I don't know if we will have a chance to go sailing again. Maybe next week, but we'll see.