We woke up today and immediately started getting the boat ready for a sail. Rob and Sue were over around 9 am and we were backing out of the slip a few minutes later. Unfortunately, we only made it about 50 feet until the boat ran aground in the middle of the marina because of very low tides again. We were able to go forward and back while moving the boat slowly to deeper water and in a few minutes were out of the mud and heading for the channel.
It was a beautiful day with 10-15 knot winds from the south, sunny and very light chop on the water. The boat was running very nice with Rob taking time to tune each sail. We were soon sailing 8 knots with the wind on our beam and heading for the deeper water out in the bay.
We spent about 4 hours trying different sail configurations and different wind angles while adjusting the lines for best performance. Rob was great with keeping our minds on the important aspects of sailing like making sure all the lines are coiled correctly and how to determine which lines need to be moved forward or back.
While out on the water, we had shut down the engine (makes it much quieter) and once again, it wouldn’t start from the cockpit when we started to come back. I went downstairs and jumped the starter from the engine room and it started fine. I will add that to my list (again!).
After we got back to the area of the marina, we decided to try anchoring so Laura and I could start learning the process. Rob was at the helm while Laura and I were at the bow, We let out the anchor and chain and it worked fine. While running the windlass to pull the chain back in, the chain fouled while going down into the chain locker and jammed in the windlass. I couldn’t get it unstuck so pulled the rest of the chain and anchor up by. hand. Add to the list – check the anchor locker and reconfigure so the chain coils correctly.
We pulled back into the slip without any problems as the tide had come in and the water was deeper. Some people here at the marina said this was the lowest they had ever seen the water level. It was probably caused by the strong west winds for several days that tends to blow all the water out of the western shore. Geez.
Our friends Mark and Chris Atkinson showed up for a visit later in the afternoon. We had wine and cheese on Rob and Sue’s boat and moved to Second Wind for a pork tenderloin cookout. Mmmmm.
Early night tonight and we’re going to continue tearing apart the ceiling in the aft cabin tomorrow. I’m also going to check with the marina management on the quote they were supposed to give me on fixing the mast base and they still haven’t talked to me about overhauling the dingy motor. It was a very nice day off….