What was you thinking, Grandpa T...

...taking Kristin, Brian, and little Christopher out for their first sail in the face of an oncoming cold front?

Never fear, all is well. It was just a bit more exuberant than was the goal. And I didn't do it on purpose. There were some rumblings of thunder last night and early this morning with enough rain to uncover a leak in the starboard, forward, port hole. (Something to add to the "fix it" list.) When the kids got here it was still raining a bit but all of the RADAR pictures showed Carlyle near the edge with the rain moving away. In addition wind forecasts were in the 8 to 10 knot range. It looked like a perfect time for an introduction to sailing.

The trees were moving a bit more than "8 to 10" so we put a reef in the main and hanked on the little jib. Kristin and Christopher took station in the aft cockpit, Deb took the helm and I had Brian's help for the deck monkey tasks. We motored out, put up some sail, dodged the race, (the course was set up just outside the marina entrance) and set off across the lake in a brisk, near 20 knot breeze. The waves were pretty busy and little Nomad pitched and rolled a bit as she threw the occasional spray into the cockpit and danced off at nearly 6 knots. Pretty exciting stuff for the first time on a sailboat! Much to my relief the kids were doing better than fine and having a good time. However, off to the west it was clearly raining pretty hard. After some debate we decided that caution is a good thing and we made the call to take a tack toward home. As we did the first peals of thunder drifted over the boat along with the first drops of rain. Kristin took Christopher below while Deb, Brian and I dropped sails, started the motor, set fenders, and readied lines for a quick docking.

It was a bit shorter sail than we might have wished and we hope to get in another come morning. It's dark now. Kristin and Christopher are completely zonked out in the V-berth. Brian is up on the foredeck checking out the view from the hammock. Deb is drifting off on the starboard settee while I am writing this. And we have another first. For this is the first time a grand kid is spending the night on Nomad. So far I'd say Christopher, Mom and Dad kind of like it, and Grandpa T is thinking that is about the coolest thing ever.