Lena

The wind was opposite from what it usually is on this trip, so we sailed quite a bit on the way out but did use the motor a fair bit due to low winds (on the way out). We travelled out the furthest I have ever been. We went right out to the Bell Buoy. There were some big but gentle swells. It was exhilarating. We turned back right after we reached the bell buoy. We were a bit cocky to have gone out that far in the first place. We had a similar problem to what we had last time, finding the handling was compromised for some reason when headed in one direction - west. The wind was still north westerly-ish. But when headed east (wind abeam on the port side) it handled perfectly normally. When heading west, for some reason, the bow kept being pushed or turned outward towards open ocean and we were losing ground on our way back in, so we kept having to tack and head east. Unfortunately, we could only do that for so long before we would run into the shore. So we decided to use the motor to head back in. On the trip back in, we were going with the tide, but the wind was directly against us and getting stronger all the time. Unfortunately, the second battery died just before we reached the inlet, which is the most difficult part to sail into the wind because you have to go between the nautical beacons or channel markers right at the opening of the inlet. We made multiple attempts, perhaps up to 10 or so with no success. We were getting increasingly frustrated. We would soon have to call for help, something I desperately did not want to do. Right at about this point a couple of the guys from the yacht club showed up to help us, bless their hearts. They gave us a tow back to my mooring.