Back on Nomad for the weekend. Though Deb missed her "Cat" I was kind of glad to be back on our little boat. Lady Marian was a great experience and someday (soon?) I hope to live on one like her. But she would be way too much boat for our little lake and, truth be told, I would be embarrassed sailing such a thing into Boulder. (That's assuming it would fit at all!)
So Saturday morning our daughter joined us to "catch a little sun." Good plan except it was raining. The clouds soon parted (as foretold) and we headed out in light breezes (also foretold) flying our big drifter. Sailing in Carlyle is like using our keel to stir a bowl of soup, particularly when it has been raining buckets. The water is brown, brown, brown, full of grass, seeds, weeds, and some really big tree limbs and lengths of trunks. As we sailed along at a nice 5 knot clip we saw a couple of patches of chewed up wood. Places (I guess) where various power boaters didn't change course fast enough, turning their Honda and Evenrudes into chain saws. The breeze was steady and we were making good speed. Melanie was impressed at the distance we traveled. Before Saturday all she had experienced was the "Carlyle Calm," flat water and even flatter wind.
We tacked back and forth toward the dam, noticing after a couple of hours that the lake was showing a lot of white. I'm getting a little better at changing the head sail and soon we were making good time on the working jib and main. The wind blew harder (not foretold at all) and the waves kept building until the lake was a washing machine of breaking waves and powerboat wakes. Melanie went from basking on the foredeck to hanging on for dear life as the boat heeled, banged spray though the waves, and occasionally rounded up. (Proving the sailor's proverb that if you think you need a reef in the sail it is already too late.) It was a carnival ride back to home port. We eventually dropped the head sail completely and still managed 6 knots downwind, flying just the main. (A new record for Nomad!) By the time we made the channel markers Melanie was a bit green and wishing for the dock. She held tough but stepped off the boat before all the lines were secure in their cleats, flopping down and much relieved to be on something not moving. It may be a while before she braves sailing with her crazy parents again.
Later Deb and I joined Barry for another night sail and another magic run. With a half moon glinting off the wavelets and a steady breeze to fill Juno's sails (It turns out Barry's boat has a name after all.) we overhauled a group of friends on Alcestis, a nice Catalina that had departed before us. She is a pretty boat but no match for Juno this night. We ghosted past doing more than 7 knots, made the dam on one reach, turned and flew home after just one tack. Occasionally a bit of lightning would flash in the distance, back lighting the pitch black sky and countless stars.
Sunday's forecast was for light winds. We made it west - east across the lake and back, then kind of half-sailed, half-drifted south toward the dam. Several miles from home the winds laid down completely and took a nap. We ended up motor sailing back up the lake and I was pretty impressed with how our little engine thudded away without complaint. Maybe we have finally made friends? We finished off the weekend giving Nomad a quick scrub and then settling into the cockpit to kill off some cold ones with friends Jeff and Jim.
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