Impromtu Sail

Our delivery captain contacted me yesterday. He said - right after the delivery - that he wanted to take us out one more time for another lesson.  That was at the end of June.  We've been going out on our own since then.  He's also a charter captain, so his days off are pretty much opposite from ours. (who am I kidding - I'm pretty much "off" everyday - they were opposite from Mark's)  He had a last minute charter cancellation for today, so we took him up on his offer for a sail this afternoon.

Thanks to the Tammy Ann for getting a good shot of us under sail!

We went out for a sail - we decided (he decided) we should go into the wind and practice our tacking.  We've been tacking - but we haven't really known how to use our tale-tails/wools and now we do!  So cool to figure out the actual hands-on use of those suckers.  I've read about the theory, but things just don't make sense to me until I get hands-on.  And today we did.  We took turns at the wheel and handling the lines - and we learned a few things.  The winds were light and the sun was out - so even though we didn't get above 5 knots, it was a gorgeous few hours on the water.

Then it was time to dock.  We've gotten better at docking. But this time I was feeling a little pressure - the captain was on the boat, and instead of following my gut like I normally do, I was listening to him and second guessing myself.  It took two tries (and apparently the mishap on the first go round was not my fault) but we got her back to the dock safe and sound.  All in all it was an educational day and we feel like we got some more good time on the water. I'm getting better with heeling.  Still makes my stomach flip a little, but it's becoming more like a roller coaster and less like my "house" is going to roll.

Tomorrow morning team Luna Sea it hitting the Big Nasty Mud Run Walk.  I love the obstacles!  I detest the running...  And after that it's off to the boat to head up the bosun for the first time - to hit some rust and hang some cd's (the birds are the current bane of my existence) and to hang the netting on the life lines.  I'd hate to have a wiener splash down during a sail just because we never got around to hanging the safety net.  I think there are a few more chores on the list.  But it should be a fun weekend -somehow we always manage to squeak in a good bit of fun ;)

What are you guys up to?