Back On The Water
After two weeks off (due to taking a break after Allegria and then being turned back at the dock due to Hurricane Frances), on Saturday I made it back out onto the water along with Kristen. We got out of the slip without incident (seems they had tuned Georges Dog’s outboard a bit), and out to raise the sails in no time.
It was Kristen’s first time on a sailboat and she ended up taking the tiller first while I trimmed the jib and main. The wind was great almost all day - about 10 kts steady - and we got lots of good heeling in, which I don’t think Kristen minded too much. We tacked our way out past the islands and down toward Aqualand, then ran wing-on-wing (see above picture) back toward the Lake Lanier Islands resort area. (For the record this was the first time running wing-on-wing actually got a sailboat somewhere for me.)
By 6:15 we were famished and cranked up the outboard to make our way in. Slowly. Somehow the outboard had worked its way up to be in the water at an angle (does anybody ever have a good experience with one of these things?). In future trips I’ll try to anticipate hunger pangs and get the boat back in the area of the dock under sail. Motoring in ain’t too much fun. We docked and cleaned up the boat just as the sun was setting - probably the best all-around day I’ve had on the water yet. Thanks to Kristen for all of her help, for tolerating photographs, and just being fun to be around.