Monday, May 19, 2008

We Did It!!! The Holly Mist Inaugural Sail!






WOW! It's taken me two days to even begin to formulate the exultation of our first ever sail on our 27ft Sloop, the 'Holly Mist'. We headed out on Friday night and had our first sleep on the boat at Thunderbird Marina. It took awhile to figure out how to get comfie in this new space (there are a few options) but eventually had a pretty good night's sleep. First thing in the morning, after a quick coffee and a chocolate chip cookie (or two:), we checked over the boat to see that all was where it needed to be, and crept slowly and quietly out of the sleepy harbour around 8:30am.

Less than 15 minutes out of the harbour, we put up the sails and were literally swept away by some pretty big winds! We were cruising at 7 1/2 knots with the genoa full and feeling a bit out of control. (We'd never gone faster than 5 knots in our training last year) The side windows were getting splashed and the sails were wet! Nothing like trial by fire:) Finally I called to George that maybe we should try to slow it down a bit so we let the sails out to a broad reach (lessening the winds' pull on the boat) and got a little more control. What an adrenaline rush! It was such a beautiful day. Once we'd slowed it down a bit, we just practiced tacking and gybeing for about an hour and then eventually the wind died down altogether. We had to start the motor up once to get out of the way of the Horseshoe Bay/Nanaimo ferry (phew - so glad that worked!) and had some cold beers and munchies and watched the fish jump while trying to make our way around Passage Island with very little wind.
About 3/4 of the way around the island, George finally gave in and started the motor, as we really weren't making any progress, and headed back into the marina. What a pleasant surprise when two seals met us at the entrance to our dock and guided us in, looking back to see if we were following, right into our berth!!! Magical:) We were pretty exhilarated and glad to have that first sail under our belt.

2 comments:

Ms.Barbara Jane said...

That.Sounds.Excellent!
So happy for you that your first sail was so awesome.

Cynthia F said...

wow! congrats on your first sail! It sounds like an incredible day!!