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!