My first multi-trip week with this boat!

Last night, Thomas and Jon and I went out for another Amtrak field trip. Jerry and Gary couldn't make it, but that left more for the rest of us.

The weather didn't look so good: cloudy (even a few sprinkles on the windshield on the way over), but I checked the radar and there was no precip on the way. Muggy, warm, and most importantly, almost no wind.

We decided to go out anyway and see if we could find some wind out in the Sound. So we left the dock (a perfect undocking, I must say) at about 5:15, and motored out to near the Cow and Calf. Still no wind. The sea was almost like glass, so we motored further. I set the wheel in a shallow turn, and we motored in circles for a bit while we drank some beers (Jon brought some Blue Moon) and had cheese and crackers, and hummus and carrots.

Eventually, I shut off the engine so we could drift in silence. That was nice. For a few minutes. Until the flies found us. It didn't take long for us to fire up the engine and motor on some more. We lost a lot of them, but now we were in their sights....

We did start to see some ripples on the water, so we unrolled the genny. Soon, we got a little more wind, so I raised the main. Then even more wind filled in. Within a few minutes, we had maybe 10 knots of wind and were heeling 15 degrees and moving along at about 5 knots. Some beautiful sailing. We also lost most of the flies in the breeze.

However, the wind didn't last long, dropping to maybe 7 or 8. But we kept sailing, and some of the flies found us again. Eventually, we decided to head in as the sun began to set. We got back to the dock (another good one) about 7 or so, then hit Dockside for a drink and some dinner.

Thomas is leaving New Haven for a job in DC in the beginning of September, so this may have been his last sailing lesson. I still need to get Jerry and Gary out.