December Sail

This is a holiday week for Peter and me, and we have been enjoying the time off.  After a very relaxing Christmas at home, we drove to Bainbridge Island on Tuesday afternoon to visit with family there.  Peter's brother Mark and his family are visiting from England, so we had a great evening catching up with them.  Eric and Eamon were there as well and I particularly enjoyed learning about recent career successes both have had, and listening to their engaging stories.  Such handsome, articulate men in this family!

But the real treat came on Wednesday, when we went for a December sail on Ablissian.  Early in the day we debated whether to go out, as the forecast was for 20-25 knots, with gusts to 30.  But the decision was made to go out and take a look.  We had the rare opportunity for the brothers to sail together - very hard to pass that up!  It wasn't actually raining yet, and it was very warm - in the low 50's.


We got the boat ready while Hailey, Naomi and Becky visited at the dock.  After a little hesitation, Naomi came aboard and looked around Ablissian.  She was clearly very comfortable down below - on a nicer day I think she might have enjoyed a short sail.  But we left her on the dock with her mother and her aunt, and off we went.



Because of the wind, we raised sails in the harbour just short of the ferry landing.  We reefed the main and flew the staysail.  Nothing for me to do but enjoy the ride with three experienced sailors on board.  We headed out through the channel, tacking in to give the ferry room to pass, then set course for Blake Island to the south.  We avoided quite a few floating logs, likely due to the high tides, and spotted a seal watching us as we passed the red nun at the channel entrance.  The winds were pretty steady at 22 knots, with gusts, but I don't believe we saw 30 at any point.  Ablissian once again showed us this is what she was built for.  With the reduced sail, she was strong and steady at about 5.2 knots, heeling comfortably.  It was an exciting, but uneventful sail, the best kind.  We had periodic light rain, but because it was so warm, it was very comfortable in the cockpit.

We had tea and debated how far to go south.  Mark and Simon took turns at the helm and we worked our way down to the southern tip of Bainbridge, but decided to circle back to the north rather than going around the island.  We took a quick peek at Blakely Harbour on Bainbridge, then cut between Blakely Rock and the shore and headed for home.

Once back in our slip the rain picked up so by the time we had the boat put away, we were all soaked.  So of course we stopped in the pub for a pint as we talked over the day and started plans for our next adventure - hoping for a more extended sail before Mark heads home, next time on Boadicea or with both boats.

This morning I was greeted with an email containing a photo Eamon took of us heading out yesterday - he was on the ferry that passed us.   Ablissian looks so small in this shot - heading out in the grey, rainy weather.