A bit of sailing this Saturday. This morning I had to help my child with her homework and it wasn’t until past 10 that I could leave the home. With horrendous traffic, I ended up at the boat past 11:30.
The forecast was for 10+ kts with a fair sea. My plan was to get out of the harbor and pop the A2 for a while. As we sailed out, the wind was getting closer to 20 kts. I kept the solent up and prepared for the A2 hoist. It was a bit wet but hoisting with the solent up worked just fine and we were powering at 10-12 kts. I didn’t drop the solent but as we were getting away from Pillar Point wind started dropping and I could have.
After dropping the A2 behind the solent, packing it back up, and sorting lines, I worked upwind going West, and then tacked to get back home. Once in port then I partially fixed the starboard bow netting. Unfortunately, I also broke something: the wooden board that sits on top of the ballast plumbing. One more thing for the list!
Again, heavy traffic to get back home, and after a quick shower, it was past 6:30.
What did I learn? It’s ok to hoist behind the solent! But drop it when the wind drops below 15kts, in favor of the staysail.
