Thursday, September 14, 2006

Nice sail on a blustery day that could have gone either way in terms of weather. Lucked out though and had a nice Southerly that carried me from Edmonds down to Port Madison on a single bending tack that kept getting lifted. While the wind started out around 8 knots or so, they faded as I approached Port Madison.

With still a faint breeze, I turned around towards Edmonds and decided to try to fly the 0.6 oz spinnaker tacked off the bow (since I was sailing solo). After taking time to prep, I hoisted it without incident and it filled and helped get boat speed back up. It looked great and handled well despite being tacked at the bow. Tried a gybe and completed it, only to find that the sheets are a bit too short for the outside gybe of an assym.

Soon after the gybe the wind died, and I took the chute down. Decided to motor over to Port Madison the little harbor I'd heard so much about. Its a great place and looks like it will be fund place to take quick weekend cruises. Protected harbor, though I wonder where we'd be able to put ashore for the dogs.

To my disappointment, the engine quit as I just after I turned around to head out of the harbor. Sounded like once again it was starved of fuel. I figured it could be the filter, since I put these in before the new tank and the old tank had quiet a lot of dirt and such. After pulling the filter, I did notice lots of dirt. So I replaced it and the engine ran fine once the air bled through.

Boat did well sailing under autopilot while I worked on the engine. It was 'fun' to work in 2-3 minute shifts - working then watching for traffic, etc.

Had a great sail home as the wind filled in from the SE... yep SE. Was kind of odd direction but made for a great close reach to Edmonds.

Really enjoyed another great day on the water.


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