David, Diane and Julia (finally!) and Patti and I went out for a late afternoon sail yesterday. Julia hasn't been on the boat since she was a young girl, and since she's taken up sailing in a big way, she's wanted to get back on for awhile. But it just hasn't worked out until last night.

We met at the boat at about 5:15, and the weather was just about perfect. Low 80's, no clouds, breeze of about 10-12 knots. Julia had never been on a boat as big as Hukilau, but quickly adapted. She raised the main, and I showed her how to unfurl the jib. Then she steered us out of the harbor and into the Sound.

We saw the Wednesday night fleet on their way out for the weekly race. "Fast Eddie" and we came close, and they invited us to race along, but we decided to head east on our own. We paralleled the coast until Lighthouse Point was abeam, then we turned and headed southeast.

By this time, the fleet was heading directly towards us, and we had to head off a bit more south to completely avoid them. All the while, I was quizzing Julia on sail trim and rules of the road. She passed the tests.

On the way, we decided to see how far we could heel and how fast we could go. We caught a nice gust near Negro Head, and went above 6 knots with a nice but not alarming heel. But it still was a bit much for Diane and Patti so we dialed it back.

We sailed into the harbor, then furled the sails and motored in. Dinner at Dockside was great. The only fly in the ointment was when the breeze lifted the umbrella out of our table and blew it over the side of the deck into the parking lot.

The company was great, the weather spectacular, and the sailing close to perfect. A great night.