It was the perfect day for sailing and today was the day I was taking her out alone. I had played through the routine in my head on what to do. But I was still quite nervous and prrocrastinated. Took my sweet time in the hot sun installing a tiller tame to help steer her. I knew as soon as I was done, it was time to set off just me, myself and I. 

Engines going and warmed up, I walked her down the dock getting her pointed in the right direction. I hopped on board, popped her in reverse and started making the turn into the fairway. Neutrail. Then a quick pop in forward to swing the bow to port. I’m out! 

Put up the sails with little issues. I was sailing by myself! I could go anywhere, tack anytime, return whenever. No need to entertain, no time to be bored, it’s just SLY and I heeling around. 

I was sailing fast near our home just north of Golden Gardens, when I could see a wall of darkness from north. It was weird… just light colored water in front with what looked like a tsunami of dark water behind and coming my way. I changed tack and started heading back south to the Marina. Within 10 minutes, the winds jacked up to 17-20 knots and SLY kicked it up a gear. Whoohoo!!! I was ziggin’ and zaggin’ and tackin’ and heelin’. So much fun until I realized I need to put the sails away and prep for docking in this howl. 

The thing that is the scariest about sailing is the thunder of flapping sails. It doesn’t last long, but when the flapping cranks up, it makes the adrenalin flow and the only thing on my mind is making the sails STOP! The noise is almost as bad as an outboard engine 😉

Safe to say, I got the sails down, bumpers out and put her back in her slip pretty much flawlessly. When I returned, I had a little crowd with my dock neighbors there to greet me with champagne.