We left Club Nautique at about 1430 after a lengthy ore cruise because it is a new boat and non of us had sailed her before. I was low tide and we just barely got over the bar out of the harbor. When we got out into the south bay the wind was only blowing about 6 kt. Just enough to do some crew overboard drills. We then calibrated the log and headed over to McCovy Cove to anchor for dinner. We had trouble getting the anchor to set but eventually we able to get a good enough hold for a short dinner stay. As notes above the dinner made by Sandra was excellent and enjoyed by all.
We then headed back about 1900. The wind had picked up and by the time we got the sails up we had 11 kt of wind. As we headed home a front came through and we we soon bashing on 21 kt winds. Doron and I had fun had great fun in the higher winds. The boat handles it fine except that like all hunters it heeled over quite a bit. Just as we were thinking of reefing the sails the rain picked up and we decided to roll up the sails and head back to port. The main came in fine but the jib gave us some difficulty. It was hard to roll in if it had any power in the sail. But we eventually got it rolled in.
Docking the 49 foot boat in 24 kt winds was also a challenge. When we came in we has to turn the boat into the wind and then back her into an end tie with another boat right behind her slip. Turning her back up into the wind took some back and fill manuvers to avoid the other boats around us and to turn this large boat around. But we eventually did it buy using a few back and forward manuvers to position the boat until Doron could jump off safely and attach a spring line.
John F. Finston
