The first sail

We had really hoped to get out for a sail the first weekend after moving aboard Jelanea. The weather didn’t cooperate with our plans however, but we did get out for a boat ride. We launched, outfitted and took a family trip on our dinghy, which the kids have named ‘Ducky’. We took a trip all the way down and back up Portland harbor and everyone had a blast. We figured out that we can get Ducky up on a plane with all 4 of us on board! We also learned that everyone loves riding in the dinghy, and the sides are just the right height to keep Trixie from falling in.

So the second weekend after we moved aboard we were determined to go sailing. We were a bit trepedicious about going out by ourselves, just us and the kids, so we invited a friend along. I’ve known Stef since high school, and took her on her first sail on my family’s old boat ‘Barefoot’ many years ago. She was also present for my first sail with Ben, aboard a friends Cape Dory Typhoon 4 years ago, so it seemed fitting that she would also join us for our maiden sail upon Jelanea.

She arrived around 12:15pm and we left the dock soon after. There was quite a bit of wind, about 15-20 knots, so we decided to play it safe and started with just out Yankee sail up. A Yankee is a very small head-sail. Both Ben and I were amazed as how small it actually was when we first saw it out. Its a good sail for high winds though, and we were cruising at about 4 knots with just the yankee out. We decided to raise the mizzen as well to balance the boat a bit more.

We didn’t raise another sail throughout the whole journey. We were making 4.5-6.5 knots the whole time and felt it was plenty of speed, especially since we weren’t going anywhere in particular, just out to enjoy the ride.

After the disaster that was the harness with Trixie on the trip to Dimillos, we didn’t hook it up to anything this time. Stef was a great help in corralling Trixie, and she did have her life jacket on when above deck always.

Ben was a fantastic first mate, clearing the deck of the dock-lines and fenders as soon as we left the dock, and pulling out the Yankee and raising the mizzen as well. Since there was a decent amount of wind I hand steered most of the time, but did allow the auto-pilot to have a turn as well.

We headed up Casco Bay, inside the islands and just went where the wind took us. We made it up past Falmouth and decided to go around Chebeague Island and then head back down on the Ocean side. The wind was mostly out of the northwest, and we were pointing pretty high most of the way up. On the way back down we were on mostly a beam reach, but with the wind still blowing 15-20 we were heeled over quite a bit.

Chef Ben made a delicious dinner of chicken and pasta, and really put the gimble on the stove to the test. Trixie spent about 3 hours in her bunk, but we aren’t sure if she did any sleeping. Tristan roamed from bow to stern to his bunk to read his book. I stayed behind the wheel for a majority of the sail, always keeping a watchful eye out.

We were out for 6.5 hours, arriving back at the dock at 7:00pm. A much longer sail than perhaps we had intended when we set out for the day, but a wonderful adventure.

We are constantly learning about our new home, and how she operates, and this trip was no exception. There were quite a few things below that were not stowed away as well as they should have been, including out block full of knives. Luckily no one was below when the knife block went crashing to the floor during a tack. The sheet pans under the stove joined the knives on the galley floor, and the saloon floor was also in the contest for being covered with stuff. Luckily nothing broke, and a little picking up once we returned to the dock put everything back in order.

It was a wonderful first sail, with fair winds, gorgeous weather, and good company. An experience we will not soon forget.