Nomad's Maiden Voyage (Deb's Take)

So we managed to get the boat out of the dock and into the lake with no damage. We motored clear of the buoys and got the jib up without either of us falling in the water. The winds were about 12knots and we sailed along with just the jib up for quite a while just getting used to the way Nomad handles.

  

 After a while we got the courage to put the mainsail up. You have to understand that in both the classes we took, the boat we used had roller furling sails. If you wanted to put the sails up you just rolled them out. Nomad's sails are hanked on with clips which is much more involved and a little more prone to dumping a crew member into the drink if done wrong or by inexperienced (aka us) sailors.

  

   

We tacked back and forth and managed to make it most of the way across the lake and a good bit toward the dam before we figured we probably better head back. The winds at Carlyle Lake have this nasty habit of taking a siesta from around 11:30 to 1:30 or 2:00, so coming back was a slow process. There was enough wind though to make a very slight wake, so we evntually made it close enough to drop the sails and turn on the motor right before the buoys for the marina. We got back into our slip with a little more grace than we left, and added another 6 hours to our sailing logbooks. We had a great weekend. Saturday was my birthday and Sunday was Father's Day. Time spent with family, new friends, and a fabulous boat. What more can you ask?

The Captain with his very first cup of coffe on Nomad.