Anchored at Egg Island (N.J.) again, what a great spot.
We got there early, got off the boat, scraped barnacles off the hull, and
scrubbed the rudder and waterline.
I bought a solar shower from Cabellas. It holds 3.5 gallons of water and hit
115 deg fahr in no time at all. It worked great! I hoisted it about 8 feet
above the forward deck with the jib halyard and showered with plenty of
water pressure. I skipped the soap though, because I was worried about
making the deck/gunnels slippery. Still, a fresh water rinse after scrubbing
the hull was great.
Then we hung an improvised screen house over the cockpit and it fit
surprisingly well. But the wind picked up, getting stronger by the minute,
and eventually hit 20+ mph. The plastic roof of the screen house got so
loud from flopping that we took it down. We didn't need it either, as the
wind blew all the bugs away.
We tried out the new Magma propane grill and made corn on the cob (soaked
over the side in salt water and then grilled - excellent!), fried bacon,
potatoes, filet mignons, and of course, cold beer! What a great meal. Only
problem was that the wind kept blowing out the fire. We got over it.
After dinner the wind got even stronger, enough so that we worried about the
anchor slipping while we slept, so we double anchored and that did the job.
We used the GPS to verify that we hadn't drifted far from the original
anchor point. With that wind, we needed no screens at all, and the cabin
felt like a wind tunnel all night. We slept well (it got cool too). By
morning the wind had died down though, and we awoke to mosquitoes biting us
(they must've all been hungry from missing dinner).
Mainsail back up at 6 AM and we were tacking back. This group has helped me
to notice and better understand the performance of my boat. For instance, it
is now very apparent to me how much sideways movement I experience while
beam to close reaching, even with my centerboard extended the full 5 feet.
It does become a big deal when tacking up a tight channel, if one doesn't
allow for that sideways movement, it is easy to 'slide' into a channel
marker. With that in mind, I overshot the marker a fair distance before
tacking back. Cut it a bit too close a few times.
All in all, this has been an outstanding summer for sailing, every trip, so
far, a winner. Many thanks to all you helpful sailors.
Scout