It really was a day packed with sail changes and reefs.
When I headed out at 9:30 (when I took this picture) there was a light wind from the North, just enough to keep Madsu moving at 2 knots. The forecast was for 20-30 knots from the south by noon. I put some BB King on the MP3 player and sat back and enjoyed the air.
Right on track with the Environment Canada forecast, the wind shifted to a southerly inflow around 11:30.
After beating for 2 hours, I now found myself having to beat again to head back the way I came.
No complaints though.
The wind built steadily, so I reefed the main. Next I had to douse the 150 in favour of my bagged out #2 jib.
I made a quick half tack and dropped the jib on the bouncing foredeck, bagged it, and hoisted the #2. It’s beat up and tired – it came with the boat, and aside from looking a lot like a pillow case when I hoist it, it was never cut correctly for the boat. Still, we managed a lumpy 4 knots or so to weather in a wet wind-over-tide chop. I can’t wait for the 2 new head sails I have coming from North Sails.
By the time I got back to where I’d come from, it really was time to dump the #2 for the #3, but I decided to call it a day, taking a few minutes (and tacks) to play in the gusts rolling off the headlands.
Besides, I was hungry. It was 2:00 and I’d been so busy sailing I hadn’t had any lunch.
Now there’s a west coast complaint for you – “I was too busy sailing to eat my lunch”. Awww.
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