We brought the boat back in really nice winds and picked up some friends at
Bayside. Sailing out near the Throgsneck bridge we were really experiencing
some odd winds, rapid changes of direction and strong gusts. It was tough to
get a proper set and the chop was making things pretty sloppy. Eventually the
wind appeared to die down and we sailed behind Fort Totten for a while. The
winds had certainly died down and I shook out the reef and popped the genoa all
the way. Perfect as we sailed near Execution Rocks 60 minutes later and
then....SLAM!!!! A sudden gust of wind pushed Alien over further than ever
before. I was standing almost fully on the wall of the cockpit and everyone was
hanging on. The wind abated just as suddenly and we popped up. I looked to port
and a Catalina 34 or 36 had her mainsail split. A few other boats were getting
their wits about them after the shocking gust. I felt bad about the guy with
the dead mainsail, but it looked repairable.
Back at our slip I heard that a J24 was knocked down as well. It was really a
fun sail! Hope you all got out there.

RB