Since Zach is back on the East Coast I sent an email to everyone at work asking for crew. Caitlin said she'd never sailed and thought it might be fun but she wasn't sure. With a little convincing and an offer to bring a friend she said she'd come along.
We left a little after 5, got a bite to eat, filled the truck, and got to the lake around 6:15. Caitlin's friend Stacy met us there; she had never sailed either.
We got the boat ready, lifejackets on, and motored out of the slip around 6:35. The wind was a strong westerly so once we were out past the docks I turned the boat around, gave Stacy the tiller and had Caitlin raise the main; I left the reef in from the weekend. We sailed around for a few minutes until I thought they were comfortable, then Caitlin went up on the bow and undid the bungies so Stacy could raise the 98% jib. The sheets were run back to the cockpit winches instead of the cabin tops so I could handle them if necessary.
It was approaching 7:00 and the rest of the boats were milling around the start. We made a couple of tacks, Stacy working the port winch and Caitlin the starboard one. At the horn we were near the back of the pack, getting pushed up by the green ketch (yawl?) from B dock.
We started out on a broad reach then switched to wing & wing as the wind came around a bit. Pretty quickly (the wind was blowing pretty good) we turned down toward Leakin' Lena and picked up speed. A close pass and we headed toward the first buoy on a close reach and the second close hauled. Boat speed was up over 6 kts with the blade and reefed main (the boat really is faster on a starboard tack)! Caitlin and Stacy took it all in stride and Stacy only came up from the lee (downhill) side when I asked her to as the puffs were getting strong.
SCBOP on Big Dog apparently blew a 1 minute warning, which I thought was the signal for the turn, so we had a bit of a head start going back, as did the Ketch. We were chasing the ketch and just about everyone else was chasing us. After the turn toward Richardson the reefed main, and me trying to pinch too much, really cut into our speed and the pack started to to really close the distance. A couple tacks (Caitlin & Stacy have the drill down!) put us across the line in good shape and ahead of the ketch. The only issue was when I lost my balance during the first tack and sort of sat on the tiller - CRUNCH! - twice!!! - CRUnch!!
Once we were in the harbor Caitlin pulled the jib down, then Stacy steered again while I pulled down the main. We motored in, Caitlin jumped on the dock to help stop the boat, we packed things up (including the split tiller) and were on the road home at 9:00. I think (hope) they both had a good time, though I think Stacy was happy to be back to the "warm" land as she'd worn shorts and it was pretty cool out there.
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