It’s been ridiculously hot and there have been powerful bands of storms raging through the mid-Atlantic recently, but we’ve still been managing to enjoy the boat, even if that means that we haven’t been putting many miles under the keel.
Tim and Andrea had to fight through obnoxious parkway traffic to meet us at the boat. Wind predictions were light—it was the first time I’d ever seen a literal zero in Windfinder for the shore—so we imagined that we’d be motoring over to Governor’s Mansion, but as we waited for them to arrive there was noticeably more than zero wind. The meter at Trixie’s was reading 7-12kts, so we decided to prep the main. Tim and Andrea eventually made it and after a quick beer transfer, we were off.
We briefly entertained the idea of sailing around a bit, but it was decided that we should just get to lounging and instead headed straight for Governor’s, making good time under just the main. We were on a broad reach most of the way, and the jib doesn’t seem to do much for us on that point of sail since it’s mostly blanketed by the main. I wanted to get the main down before we got to the channel, but a stream of powerboats was coming in on our windward side and before we knew it we were there. We usually point the boat into the wind to get the main up or down, which was impossible once we were in the channel. Despite the fact that our new sail slugs aren’t quite as slippery as the old ones, we were able to get the sail down fairly easily just by letting the sheet out all the way and pulling it down. Yay for the topping lift: perhaps the least sexy but most valuable boat upgrade from last year.
Then we anchored and lounged. We swam around a bit, and dove on our anchor to see how well it was set (it was really buried again, with minimal effort on our part). We were having a lot of fun, and perhaps waited too long to return, but were treated to a beautiful hazy red sunset: clearly a sailor’s delight. The boat was maybe a little overpowered on the way back, since we were flying everything and the wind had remained 15kts or so from the southwest. We eventually reduced the jib a bit and had a fast sail tacking back to the marina, using the nav lights for the first time this season.
Back at the marina, our truck and trailer had once again been locked behind the gates at Berkeley Island Park. This only seems to happen with Tim and Andrea, but I think our tardiness is proportional to the quality of the lounging that takes place when they’re around. At least we know the drill now, and it took us longer to get ahold of someone at the county dispatch than it did for them to show up to let us out.
Aside from the delay with the gate and some vicious mosquitos that were hanging around the park after hours, we had a great day of boat lounging.
