Yesterday was fantastic. My oldest boy is just back from working at a dude ranch this summer, and like music to my ears, he asked to go sailing. I couldn’t think of a better idea. He got no protest from this old sailor. We went and had one of those rare August days, easy temps, good breeze, and a lunch in the cooler. Darn near perfect.

Cowboy

We’re still struggling with getting Luna out of her berth when driving NE winds force her back in. This go-round we used our small 2hp Honda thinking its ability to swivel 180 degrees would provide reversing action and drag us out of the slip. Initially successful, the progress degraded as the wind won by grabbing the stern. We had no real steerage. So, like last outing we docked on the outer berth, but this time with jib and jigger we slipped to weather past a crumbling wharf and into the clear.

“Dory”: a Cape Dory 28

Aside from a marina mate, “Dory”, there were no boats out there. With winds 12-15 kts we rushed out of East River on a run, jibed and sailed to port out past New Point. There it got windy (18-20 kts) and lumpy quick. The standing NE wind bucked outgoing tide producing short, quick 6′ seas. Reefing the main settled things down. Dropping the main altogether may have been a better decision. After 20 minutes of taking our lumps, we turned back into Mobjack and reached far up into the Ware River. Pretty. I look forward to seeing this river in the Fall.

siesta