We went sailing again.

In spite of less than optimistic weather forecasts, we took Heart of
Gold out at 6:00 last night and it was wonderful. EVERYONE was out
sailing and Thomas loves to yell "Boat, boat!" whenever we pass another
vessel. It was just one of those ideal nights with the wind blowing
10-15 knots. A quick tack and Thomas says "whoooo!!" Too cute for
words.
At one point we broke out the sandwiches and drinks, I let go of the
wheel to hold Thomas for a moment. We all started talking, eating,
playing with Thomas. Quite a while passed and I realized I had not
tended the helm at all. I kept a sharp eye, but forgot the wheel (Big
wheel to forget!) for longer than I realized. Needless to say, and as
Old Thom mentioned via her wing keel, Heart of Gold never wavered,
holding her course as if on autopilot. I noted that we were far from
ideally trimmed and that's being kind! Most of the evening we were far
from well trimmed and yet Heart of Gold always kept speeds of 5-6
knots. Tweak the 35s5 and she flies. Loaf along and she's as foregiving
as a Pearson Vanguard. Amazing!
A nice looking race was underway close to Fort Totten. Keeping a
healthy distance I matched course with a J30, Santana 30 and what
looked like a Ericson 35. These boats were racing...we were just
loafing along paying loose attention to trim. On the upwind leg we
stayed right with those boats of course.
Heading back towards Execution Rock at one point I sheeted in tight. I
had to go forward to get the genoa well inside the lifelines. I need
rollers perhaps. Below 35 degrees we made good progress and I had good
landmarks to prove it. She got away from me a couple of times in the
puffs, but quickly regained her feet.
The 35s5 is just splendid to sail. Even more so with my beautiful wife
and son. I did take some pics and will post them later when I get the
camera off the boat. We're sailing again at 2:00 today, this time
bringing Thom's babysitter along for the ride.

And you all did very nice work on your computers last night while we
sailed. I'm VERY proud of you all.


RB
35s5
NY