Frank Pastor

12knts WSW, sunny skies, moored in the lee so calm water. We hoist the main, fell off to port and sailed downwind through the moorings, hoisted the genoa after clearing the last boat, tacked and headed North. Once out of the lee of Mullaghmore, the wind picked up to a steady 12knts gusting 15knts with small whitecaps and a decent 1m swell out of the west. We could have put a reef in and set the yankee jib but decided to push on doing tacks and jibes around the race marks. only two other boats out. We sailed back to the mooring under mainsail with the engine idling in neutral. I sailed up to the pick up bouy less one metre and had to put the engine in forward just a few seconds to avoid going around. Engine ran well after carburetor rebuild last week. We spotted lots of sea birds but no dolphins or whales today. The cabin was a mess owing to many items flying off the shelves and counters while heeled. No photos today as the sailing was too vigorous with lots of maneuvers.