Saturday April 18, 2009

I went sailing with Jesse and her husband on her boat in St Pete. The winds were consistent, probably around 10 knots. Getting out was no easy challenge. The tide was coming in and the winds were from the east so getting past the break wall got real choppy and a lot of effort for the motor. We decided against using the head sail for the time being and sailed only with the main. The winds were forecast to be stronger in the morning and slowing to between 5-6 knots in the afternoon.

The afternoon was a great sail. We hoisted the jib and quick began cruising along. Jesse had the helm as I control the jib and mainsail. The jib was setting well but we need to fix some telltales to the end of the battens on the mainsail so it is easier to determine if we have the right shape.

we came across of a patch of no wind and drifted for a bit. I took the helm and still controlled some of the jib work because of its proximity to the wheel. This boat is set up so that it can single handed if one should want. The winds picked up and we began sailing on a close hauled point of sale with a little bit of heel. It was cool to have the helm on this point of sail and to sail in the groove. We met up with Reggie at one of the markers and cruised around together for a while.

The sail back was mostly broad reach and then pointed down for some wing on wing. It was a great day sail and topped it off with some wings and cerveza. Reggie let me know that someone took a picture of his boat during the race we were in, my first time on his boat. He is going to send me the pick so I will post it soon. He mentioned that in the picture you can see that the jib is trimmed perfectly with all the telltales streaming back. It is going to be real cool to have that pic.