Spring sailing

A couple of great weekends of sailing, breaking in (and in the first case, breaking) the new topping lift (since repaired).

I’ve got a few crew members now who have come along often enough or (perhaps more to the point) have the interest to take the tiller themselves and be in charge of the helm for a while.  So the first week, with the Ninja at the helm, I got to hang out on the bow and commune with my boat for the first time in a long while.  Easter Sunday, with Anna B at the helm, I even took a quick nap!

Things got a little rough during the Easter Sunday sail.  I had Amy and Tony along for their second ever sail, and Anna for her first sail of 2007.  The day started out with decent wind, but an admittedly poor decision on my part.  I had planned to use the tides and relatively calm wind to go out the gate a bit, coming back on the incoming tide.  However, there was a bit of fear among the crew, so I said we could go towards San Pablo instead, which meant fighting the tide both coming and going, and fighting the wind coming back.

Got a great opportunity to do some wing-on-wing.  (pretty picture!) 

Everything was smooth for the first 5 hours or so, although coming back was taking a long time.   However, my crew was getting cold, tired and hungry, so I decided to crank up the motor rather than beat up all the way back (plus, the wind was pretty low between Angel Island and Tiburon).  OK, got the motor going and the sails down, although the chop should have clued me in.  We rounded Belvedere and straight into pretty big wind.

Wound up with most of the crew staying below for the remainder of the journey.

For the first time since moving the boat North I had a little trouble docking.  Coming up between the docks straight into the wind, I should have cut the turn a little tighter than I normally do.  Luckily, Anna was ready with the lines and a fellow walking by helped out.

As we docked, he said, “You guys are really brave to have gone out today!”

Brave, fool-hearty, what’s the difference?

 

The prior week, I had Rebecca, Janet and Jason.  Jason brought along a major camera – I fully expect to see a photo spread someday.  The Indian Summer likes being a pinup girl.  Janet did not get a third chance to save the day, so no plaque yet, but I’m sure she’ll come sailing again.  There’s always another chance to do a boat-save.