Today kinda sucked.. it was still better than not going out but it still sucked 🙂
Angela, Mike, Miriam, Richard and I all went out on Sea Puppy. It looked pretty good as we left the dock but about halfway to the inlet the skys started to close in and a drizzle begin… then the rain lifted but we were still watching the skys closely.. with a low ceiling and lots of grey clouds it was a bit of a forbiding sky on three sides of us. Well by the time we got to the inlet it had rained on us twice briefly and was looking much worse. Also we started to hear thunder in the distance.. I had been hoping that it would clear up but it just didn’t look like it. I went ahead and called it and we headed back to the dock.. We were under sail at this point and the winds were favorable to sail back to the marina so we left the motor in the water but with it off.
about half way back it poured on us and the wind started to blow. After getting hit with a really strong gust that heeled us over about 30 degrees we pulled the head sail in.. I left Richard on the helm and I then took the mainsheet over and untill the gusting from the thunder storm slowed down we had a grand old time .. scooting along at 5 to 6 knots under main alone..
I have to admit having skilled people on the boat while bringing the main down with the wind gusting was nice.. all the repairs on the mast still make me feel warm and fuzzy at how easy it now is to bring the main down.. Richard and I pulled the main down and Angela took the helm. When it started gusting strongly and we had to start hopping to get sail in we got Miriam down below out of the way and out of the stronger rain to protect the badages on her arm and make sure she didn’t stress it.. having just had surgery on her hand and elbow it would have been a bad thing if she pulled it or strained it.
The funny thing is that it was not really nice weather to sail in but if it hadn’t been for the thunder and lightening we probably would have stayed out.. Everyone enjoyed the sail even through the rain and gusty wind.
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