My good friend Dave was finally able to join me for the first time sailing today. Schedules have been conflicting so far this season and last year he was serving over in Iraq. He sailed once or twice when he was younger, so that makes him mostly new to sailing. The wind was forecasted to be 10-12 knots out of the north with temperatures in the mid 80s, so it was going to make for some nice sailing. We had a great sail, tacking our way out of the West River into the Chesapeake. Dave got some practice managing the jib sheets and learning the process. I then gave him the tiller and we sailed over into Eastern Bay, past Bloody Point light house. After about three hours out, we tacked back and I took my turn at the tiller. The winds were shifting quite a bit near the opening of Eastern Bay into the Chesapeake, but once we got more into the bay, we trimmed the sails and cruised along back to the West River. We then had a down wind run to the Rhode River and sailed on a beam reach to Cadle Creek. Here are several photos from the sail.
I wouldn't mind having a sailboat like this someday:
Dave at the tiller while sailing close hauled in Eastern Bay. We were heeling about 40 degrees momentarily; made for a fun photo. We were usually heeling between 20-30 degrees.
These were also taken around the same time as the one above. In the future, I want to remember to try to play with my camera settings to get some blur in the water motion and see how they come out.
I'm watching my sail trim:
Dave dozing off; he works a night shift so his sleep schedule is all off not to mention being on the water can be relaxing.
My turn for some fun:
I'll probably upload a video or two I took when we were really cruising along. Here is our course from my GPS: