103 Basic Coastal Cruising

American Sailing Certified Sailor

Very nice day at the lake, sailing and anchoring at a nice cove to celebrate Sabrina’s birthday with good food, sunbathing and swimming. 

Winds averaged 10 knots, with 20 knot gusts. We enjoyed some relax sailing at 5 knots as well as some exciting times with the boat heeling and making hard maneuvering.  All crew did a great job both at the helm as well as trimming the sales during the maneuvers. 

Anchoring at the cove was not difficult, and we enjoyed a few hours relaxing and enjoying Sabrina’s birthday with sunshine, nice temperature and calm waters at anchor. 



Sabrina’s birthday

Tardis

Cloudy day, didn’t seem like it would be great a first, but it turned out to be a great day. Winds around 9-10 mph, gusts in the 20-23 range, light rain for a couple of minutes. 

The plan was to challenge ourselves to go as far south as possible and return to the dock before 2:00 PM. 

It was a nice time meeting the new crew, talking, and sharing some food. 

Sailing Catalina 30 Eduardo and Collin 

Nice sunny day, low wind, long break at the Naked Spaniard Cove for sunbathing and lunch. 

Solo - 27’ Hunter

After a sequence of very hot sailing days at the lake, more often than not with light winds, and very hot sun, today it was different. The skies were partly cloudy, temperatures in the low 70’s, winds of 10 to 12 knots, gusting upwards to 19 knots. 

Once again, sailing solo, on a Hunter 27 called Solo. 

Fist hour or more were spend practicing mooring approaches and docking, taking advantage of the higher than usual winds at the dock and at the Marina Cove. It was well worth the time spent.  

Then, spent lots of time trying to figure out why the boom was so low, almost reaching the helm. Paula called Dan and he gave us instructions on how to find the boom topping lift line. Problem solved. 

The wind was blowing 10 knots-79º when I started sailing, so I started on a broad reach to get out of the cove and to the open area of the lake.  I also challenged myself in hauling the sails in the marina cove, instead of taking the easier approach of taking cover behind the island nearby. 

Sailing solo in a day like today proved to be more challenging than I expected. Solo does not have auto pilot and the steering wheel lock does not work.  Tying a line to the wheel worked, but was in itself another slow task that caused problems in big get winds, when everything seems to happen at a faster pace, and there is a constant sense of rush. 

I trimmed the topping lift a bit more than the usual for that boat.  Not sure if the impact this caused in sailing.  Still need to figure out if it helped with the gusts of wind. Often the boat was heeling almost to the point of the water line reaching the cockpit coaming. My guess is that having the topping lift trimmed helped dump some wind when needed.  Not sure though. 


Solo Sailing, Dock and Mooring Drills

Wind 12/20 mph. Short sail to Pelican Pete to see where the public docks for the restaurant is located. Sailed with John, learned how Still the One works (Hunter 306). Sailed Hunter 41 that same day also. Morning sail, test in the afternoon. Passed. 

Alex Morales