Quick Report on Overproof's "Shake-Down" trip to Mahone Bay

Departed the Bay Landing at 1230hrs in the rain. Did a 45 minute run-in at
various rpms on the auxiliary to assess performance. Excellent... 6.5kts at
1900rpm. Cleared the bay under power and once satisfied the diesel was in
good shape, proper drip from the packing gland, belts tight, battery
charging... set sails and swung to about 180 on to a beam reach to get sea
room and clearer winds off shore. We changed heading to 270 at a DDW course
aprox 6 nm off the coast

You know the winds in drenching rain... sorta comes and goes in waves. the
rain was relentless but the vessel was moving smartly. Nonetheless... the
crew was geared and the coffee hot. We averaged about 6.7 kts speed in 15kts
DDW, wing on wing with a few short broad reaches to shave Peggy's Cove on to
East Ironbound. There we met up with a friend's boat "Seaswire" who followed
us in to show him the way. We hit better winds behind East Ironbound and got
the speed up to about 7.5 to 8 knots. It was about 6 gybes from East
Ironbound to the entrance of Mahone Bay proper and a wing on wing entry at
1830hrs to the mooring field.

We set to a mooring the first night, Seaswire rafted up to us and we tied
into the massive supply of beer and rum stockpiled aboard both vessels. It
wasn't long before we were dry & drunk with old friends dropping by to say
hello. Seaswire's crew remarked how nice Overproof looked going through the
seas ahead of them.... smooth and powerful. That was nice to hear.

Saturday was a beautiful day for sailing with winds at 15 kts in the am to
25kts in the afternoon. We set full canvas and headed out at 1200hrs. Once
we passed and cleared the other boats we struck out for Big Tancook
Island.... sailed-up to the Bluenose II then went to Prince's Inlet past
Bachman's and returned to Mahone Bay at about 1800hrs. We pressed Overproof
hard on all points to see how the rigging was holding out and to fine tune
the tension, etc. The boat performed remarkably well....

The Classic Boat Festival was a great time. Lots of American boats in the
bay. Lots of shore activities. Lots of wooden and classic style boats for
sale. Many people dropped by to compliment and inquire about Overproof. The
schooner races were on, we had deer steak BBQ, the burning of the Teaser on
Sat night and I got a Great Tan!! It was a 5 star weekend.

I've been onboard since Thursday night and just got back here about 2 hours
ago.

CM