Busy Quickie!

(3/27/10) Wanted to run the engine as it had been a while, but when I got to the boat I saw it was ready for sailing with the main on, the halyards led, etc. I started the engine at the dock, and did a few tasks on the boat, but it was too tempting! So with a nice breeze out of the East - easy for a reach in and out of the cut, I Teed up the #3.

Motored out the Landing channel, and then pulled up the jib, and motor sailed out the cut. It was nice, but the sun was shining and it would be a shame not to hoist the main and kill the engine - right?

The waves were breaking over the breakwater beside the hovercraft base, which made me doublethink the option, but I could stay in the cut if I needed to, and reach back & forth. Plus the Spring tide was very high, which accounted for some of the waves breaking over the rip-rap.

Put up the full main - as it would be tricky to reef singlehanded. Was a tad over powered, but still very manageable. Singlehanding is very busy! Especially with the bungee AP, which I do not trust 100% to stay on. That AP is a huge help, and otherwise going out alone would be virtually impossible.

Sailed out to R2, tacked around it and sailed back. The boat was nicely powered up, and really moving through the choppy water smoothly and powerfully. It was pretty neat, but I wished Brigite was able to be there - but we have been really busy and it was hard enough for one of us to get away just to get the boat out.

Sailed back up the cut to flat water and less breeze where I started the motor and dropped the sails. Got most of the boat put away on the way up the channel. A good tail wind and still flooding tide, meant it was going to be hard to slow the boat in the slip. So much so, that I left it in reverse at idle speed as I got the lines on.

A short but fun (and busy) outing!

Spring Sail - March 20th 2010

Gorgeous day for a sail here in Ocean View on the 1st day of spring - over 75 degrees, and a light SW breeze shifted to a sea breeze (NE) and sustained late in the afternoon; thankfully as we were very busy and didn't get to leave home until after 3pm.

Yesterday evening I got the boat ready for sailing, pulled down halyards, put on main, etc. So today we were able to make a quick getaway.

Wind was coming straight down the landing boat channel and we got the sails up quickly and reached out the cut.

Lovely breeze outside; probably around 7kn, and we were nicely powered up with the #1 and full main. Sailed along on a close reach, past channel markers and out around the noisy yellow middle bay marker. Speed was around 5.7 going out.

Wind started a slight increase as we got closer to the middle bay marker, and after we tacked we were definitely fully powered up.

The 10 kn breeze went right as we got close to the shore, and the current seemed to be under us coming down the bay, as we were well over 6kn most all the way back.

It felt great to be out sailing and out "to sea". The seas were nice and flat and Silver Fox was in her element. She does not like waves much as she is small and bob's around in waves, which is not fast and she does not track well in those conditions. I guess we were out for a couple of hours, but as usual it didn't feel like enough!

The breeze was coming down the cut and we doused the genoa and motorsailed to the area of the marinas. The starter took a lot of attempts before it started, with the clunk on all failed attempts. But, other than that electrical issue - the engine is being 100% reliable.

Hope the sailing season is now open!!