It was gusty and challenging sailing today. Winds were
above 10 knots minimum with gusts well over 25 knots.

Gusty conditions like this make for exciting sailing. The
water was pretty flat, and looked like a gridiron with foam
trails showing the wind direction, bisecting the very slight
wavetrain coming downwind.

The hard part about sailing today was the shifty nature of
the wind varying by location. I saw westerlies on one side
of an island and expecting the same after clearing the lee
of the island, looking for a place to anchor, was surprised
to find nor-northwesterlies on the other side, making my
planned anchoring location less than ideal.

We put a single reef in and that was too much. Very rarely
to I partially furl a jib, today, I left out about 2 sq ft, which
made sheeting it in much easier, and nothing broke.

I've seen strong gusty conditions here in SW Connecticut
in the spring and fall, but these surprised me. Winds would
double in intensity as fast as you could snap your fingers, and
die off almost as quickly. It was like being slapped hard.

Heading back in at 2pm, the current was really running and
with the wind. That little scrap of jib made a huge difference
in manueverability and pointing. It worked far better than I
expected. I'd say it doubled the effectiveness of these two
attributes over a reefed main alone.

Winds were calmer than yesterdays 55 mph peak. Today,
probably sustained 10-15 knots with gusts mostly around
25 and as much as 30 in more exposed areas. Tomorrow
things should finally lighten up to more comfortable sailing.

Anyone who claimed winds were light today is certainly
a liar.

Bart