I had a great day sailing yesterday. My hands were way too busy for photos (sorry, I'll get some on the return trip) but it was such a nice day, it's worth typing about.
Another area sailor invited a J/30 owner from New York to come race on his new J/30 this week. Unfortunately, his boat is still in the yard (well beyond the expected splash date).
He called Tuesday to see if I would be willing to race my boat in New Orleans Wednesday night. I keep my boat across the lake, so it would need to be delivered 24 miles to the southshore. Tuesday evening it was storming and I had to work in New Orleans on Wednesday. I told him we could do it, but we would have to leave at sunrise. He was up for it, so yesterday morning we met at the boat at about 6:20. I rigged it late Tuesday after the weather cleared so it was ready to go in the morning.
We were on the lake by 6:45 heading due south. The breeze was N/NE at about 10 and forecast to build. It did and we had a wild ride for just two people. We didn't even put the jib on deck as we popped the chute as we left the harbor. We were tied up and had the boat put away in New Orleans at 9:45.
We were consistently sailing in the mid- and high- 8's and going even faster as we were able to surf the larger, mid-lake waves. His wife picked us up and brought me to my New Orleans office. I walked in wearing boat clothes with a duffel bag. It's the first time I took the boat to work. :)
That evening we raced in our Wednesday night series against some fast, competitive boats. We finished first in class and second overall.
Really a perfect day - the temperature is dropping a bit and the breeze is picking up after a typically light summer. We've got a full race shedule over the next couple of months and the crew is really starting to get the boat figured out. I'm looking forward to it.