Second Sail

We did get the second sail of the season in today. Light winds were forecast from 10 AM to 2 PM so we left the slip with the Drifter hanked onto the fore stay, hoping to get a little sailing in even if we couldn't get very far. For once the forecast was wrong in the right direction and soon little Nomad was making close to 6 knots on a broad reach down the lake. It was pretty fun but we started to worry that the light weight head sail was over matched by the still building breeze. A middle-of-the-lake sail change ensued. Except for a bit of clumsy on the part of the deck monkey (that would be me) getting the billowing Drifter down, the sail change went pretty smooth. It was really kind of fun with the wind blowing and the deck pitching in the 1 to 2 foot waves, but I was ready for a breather after changing the sails, running the lines and then setting and sheets for a beat back into the wind.

Tight to the wind Nomad is a great ride, bashing through the waves and throwing spay past the cockpit. Once in a while a good gust would hit and she would heel over close to 30 degrees. A couple of times we were just shy of burying the gunnels, something we haven't quite managed to do yet with Nomad. We did a couple of jibes and quite a few tacks trying to gain the marina channel, but as the day wore on the winds shifted so that they were directly on our bow when we pointed the channel; fun sailing but we just weren't making any headway toward the slip. With the skies to the west starting to darken up we resorted to the motor to make the last half mile or so. (I wish I knew for sure what I have done to make our little motor so happy. It is running cool and smooth, pushing the boat to slightly more than 4 knots at 2200 RPM. If I could figure out what I did right I would keep doing it!)

It was a good day with out little boat taking good care of us while we practiced being sailors.