Saturday I took my friend Kent out sailing for his first time. He had sailed on a schooner out of Annapolis in the past, but this was his first time on a smaller sailboat. Saturday's weather was great for sailing, windy, sunny, and in the low 70s. Dave got out on the water before I did, so I called him up to see what the conditions were on our way. His wind meter read around 20 knots with gusts into the low 30s. I put a reef in the main and had a few wraps around the jib furler. We had a very exciting sail smashing through waves, getting sprayed often, deck soaked, heeling 20-30 degrees most of the trip but gusts sometimes took us to 45 degrees momentarily and having the rail in the water! Most first timers probably would have been freaking out in those conditions but Kent was having a great time. I know I would have been quite nervous if I was new and this was my first experience! Kent didn't want to try his turn at the tiller or managing the sheets because of the conditions, so I did everything myself. There were times I was steering with my legs and feet, managing the main sheet with one hand and the jib sheet with the other, while balancing myself as we are heeling over and smashing through waves! Oh it was so much fun! I just wish we got more photos, the thing was we didn't want to damage our cameras with all the salt water spray and also, as you can imagine, I had my hands full! Those would have made for some exciting photos and videos. Hmm... a water proof camera is on my list to buy someday.
Here are some photos from Kent's camera:




Kent:


Me:


We sailed a total of 21.4 nm, came back to the Rhode River, dropped the anchor and relaxed with a beer. I had a lot of fun doing all the sailing, but then it was nice to just kick back and take a break. After hanging out for a bit I dropped Kent off at the marina and I headed back out to the Rhode River to anchor for the night. I motored around the anchorage, trying to find a good spot evenly spaced out among all the other boats. I set my anchor and then laid back and read a book for a bit. It was cooling off, so I went down below and enjoyed my dinner, a chicken salad I picked up from Safeway on my way to the boat. It's good, healthy, simple, doesn't need any cooking, and I can just throw it in the cooler.


I stayed below reading a book for the rest of the night since it was chilly, but kept an eye on the sunset.


Here was my course plotted for the day: