This afternoon, we had a fantastic sail alongshore. We left the dock at 12:40 and motored out past the "Murden" [Army Corps of Engineers dredge ship] working the pass at Bowditch Point. As we headed down the coast, the wind was blowing about 15 knots and we made 6.5 to 7.5 knots on a beam reach parallel to shore. We made it all the way to Bonita Beach before our first tack. Just before this tack, as I sheeted in the genoa, the aft starboard fiddle-block busted. Fortunately it didn't come completely apart and I was able to safely remove it after tacking.

On the way back, we were joined by a pair of dolphins who played alongside for a while:

We're finally having some dry air streaming in from the north & I took advantage of it with a single-handed sail today. With winds from the northeast at 15 to 20 knots, I sailed parallel to the beach in fairly light waves. I had the full main up and rolled the jib out about 2/3. Top speed noted today was 7.9 knots. Had to leave the marked channel on my way in at Bowditch Point due to Army Corp of Engineers dredge/boat operating mid-channel.

Just re-launched after a one week haul-out at Olsen's Marine Service. Salty has all new thru-hulls and sea-cocks, two coats of Micron CSC, and her hull sides are sparkling again after an acid wash. Now it's time to get ready for Hurricane Isaac who may pay us a visit in two days!

We had plenty of wind today and were only one tenth of a knot short of our speed record of 8.3 knots. We left the dock at 11:00 AM and stopped for fuel at Moss Marine. There was such a nice breeze from the SE that I decided to unfurl the jib when we left the fuel dock. We scooted out of Estero Bay at 5.5 to 6.5 knots and headed over toward the Sanibel Causeway on a run. We tacked back toward FMB and the wind really picked up. 15 to 20 knots was a bit much for our new larger jib so I rolled it in about 1/3. Close-hauled, we were making 7+ knots and frequently broke 8 knots with a peak of 8.2. Made it back to the dock at 4:00, just barely soon enough to keep from running aground in the rapidly falling tide.

Adrielle, Cassidy, Chloe and Dorothy joined me for a test sail this afternoon. We left the dock at around 4:30 and were under sail in the Gulf by 5:00. The winds were light and we sailed south at around 4.5 to 5 knots. When we made it to the SC mark, the wind picked up to 10 to 12 knots and we hit a top speed of 6.7 knots. Both sails have a nice shape and they seem to perform well.

This morning, Dorothy & I installed our brand new main sail. It is a fully-battened, loose-footed main, custom made by Super Sailmakers in Fort Lauderdale. I ordered it through Ocean Rigging here in Ft Myers.