Cool clear skies, a honkin breeze, and a good boat.
15-20 northwesterly. We decide to zip out for a run around Faulkner island and back. 15 miles by the rhumb.
For some harebrained reason, I had the #1 on deck, but came to my senses and set the #3 instead. Similarly, I set the whole main, but VERY quickly tucked in a reef for the beat to the west, as the 15-20 was trending to 25.
Despite my lazy reluctance to shake out the reef when the breeze moderated west of the island (hey, it was sandwich time), total time under sail was just a touch over 3 hours.
Fifteen miles up and down in three hours.
It took almost that long to get the boat cleaned up afterward. The conditions down below were mostly OK. Topside was a whole other matter.
By the time we hit the dock, the boat was wearing a crust of salt unlike any I've seen. A solid ten pounds, easy. The scrubdown was like breaking ice on Deadliest Catch.
This was the wettest ride this boat has ever given us. I've never been a big fan of dodgers, but I wouldn't have turned one down today. A quirk of tide and wind shift left the wind and chop about 20 degrees from one another. On Sarboard tack, this presented the bow to the waves at precisely the optimum angle for sending sheets of water over the cockpit. Surfing our way home was a less wet ride (though no less exhilarating), and the unfettered sun crystallized everything nicely.
I don't mind cleaning up that kind of mess one little bit.
Good day, eh?
-
Figment
- Damned Because It's All Connected
- Posts: 2846
- Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 9:32 am
- Boat Name: Triton
- Boat Type: Grand Banks 42
- Location: L.I. Sound
oh, wait, I was wrong. The camera did peek out of the companionway briefly in the lee of the island. We were doing a bit of rockpicking, so I probably had my head in the chart at the time.
A bright summer day!
A bright summer day!