Solo
I did it. First solo sail was a short jaunt Friday afternoon, prior to a wonderful evening sail with friends.
With heart in mouth, I set up the sails and put everything I could possibly think of in the shallow lazarette so I could get it without moving (handheld radio, extra line, water, courage) then headed out. Put up the main sail, sailed out to about Clipper harbor, then turned around. I said it was a short sail. Baby steps. I started the motor, then took down the sail and successfully returned to dock. For me, that was like crossing the Atlantic. All of a sudden, a world of possibilities opens in front of me.
The evening sail later that night was gorgeous. Just enough wind to sail, beautiful stars, a few other boats out so we didn’t get lonely, but few enough that we had the evening to ourselves. Started out with Anna and Javier, then picked up Chris. Strangest sight of the evening was when trying to dock at Chris’s marina, I almost collided with a shack. Literally, a shack. It was floating somehow and being towed by a rowboat. In the dim light, I couldn’t see that it was actually moving until we were very close.
Really people, if you are going to tow your ramshackle around the harbour at night, put a light on it.
Later on, went back to dock to have a little party. Cara came for that, exceedingly pregnant (a week or so overdue). I was hoping she would give birth on the boat and had specially brought towels and water to boil, but she refrained.
Then today, I moved the boat (again, by meself) down to a new slip at the end of the dock. This is a space I should be able to sail in and out of!
