Well, today I met Marc from alt.sailing.asa for a sail. Winds were challenging
to say the least, blowing 20-25 and gusting well above 30 to perhaps 35. There
wasn't a moment of doubt about going out, even though a friend pointed west to
a large mass of dark clouds. So what. Still, with just my ex-girlfriend along,
I probably wouldn't have headed out so quickly!
We headed out into a lot of spray and short rollers (though no waves crashed
down onto anyone) and hoisted the main, unreefed. We fell off and made 6.5-7
knots easy. It was really windy as hell, but Marc is a straight-shooting sort
who seems to love boats. Marc liked the way Alien tracked downwind.
We continued that way for a while, then finally headed down toward Hart Island.
Marc was worried about ROCKS, but I was pretty certain we had water and then,
while feathering up...
BAM!!!
We hit a rock! Not badly, bumped it at about 3 knots luckily and lifted up and
over. Had a good laugh and I guess that extra foot of draft is worth a local
chart review!
We popped the genoa to a bit under 100% or so. No great shape, but high winds
kept her moving. We made 7 knots, flirted with 7.5 and near 8 a few times on a
close reach.
By this point there were only TWO other sailboats out showing canvas. A small
Irwin called Juliet sailed close by amd yelled "Why are we the only one's out
here?" Probably because we're the ONLY SAILORS around, but he was already too
far off to hear that.
Killer fun day and a real rig stresser! Hope Marc returns the favor and has me
out on his Freedom 36 soon!
Came back to more than 300 posts from the non-sailors here. It's a bit sad,
really. Was it too windy? Not windy enough? Too wet, too dry? Why oh why don't
you people sail???
Sailing again tomorrow and Tuesday!

PS: It was observed that Alien is the only boat at the marina without
shackled/thimbled lines!

Bwahahahahaha!!

Capt RB