2011.10.10 Monday Spin

Beautiful Thanksgiving Monday: sunny and warm, 26 degrees Celcius, winds from the SE between 5 and 8 knots, diminishing as the afternoon progressed.  Full main and light #1. 

Rita and I got the boat going over 5 knots a little over 3 miles SE into the lake on a close hauled course.  We tacked to the west and could only get about 4 knots of speed.  Waves were very small (<1 ft).

Just look at the sail shape of the new main!
...and the missing antenna windex!

I took the boat far enough to the west so that we could gybe and set the spinnaker for a broad reach back.  Rita had never flown a spinnaker, so she was a little leary, but she could see my excitement.  After the gybe, the winds were diminishing, and could only get at 1 1/2 knots of boat speed.  Dropped the jib, and hoisted the spinnaker.  Had the lines inside the lifelines, so had to correct that, but the chute filled and got us going comfortably over 4 knots.

Rita took over flying the chute; after a couple of pointers, SHE WAS A NATURAL AT IT!   She flew a lot of kites with her kids, and absolutely loved it. 

Rita, main, and spinnaker!

She came up with this saying "Guys have a pole, and the other is a SHEet" BRILLIANT!

The Admiral with the SHEet

Looking great!

We sailed it right into the channel, did a perfect douse as we turned toward the yacht club. 


Drying the spinnaker afterwards dockside

AWESOME!  Best sail of the season.

Be sure to click on the pictures for a larger sized version.

Trip Odometer: 9.66 miles
Moving Avg: 3.7 knots
Moving Time: 02:35:30

Google Earth track: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/20111010.kmz