I was down at the boat at 9:30 AM. There was very little wind. The forecast said little wind. GSF model said no wind. HRRR Grib in the morning said little wind.
It was all a sham.
As soon as I sailed out onto the bay, the wind started to build. At first, it was 6 knots. By Ballast Point, 10 knots. At Buoy 4, fourteen knots. It continued to build all the way up to 20+ knots.
With quickly building wind comes the waves. I must say I have forgotten what it was like to go upwind in heavy chops. It was not easy to steer around them as the waves were too close. I could manage not to fall off one wave, but they come in a train of three or four.
I tried maintaining the boat speed the best I could by footing off, pointing higher in flatter spots. Then come down for more speed through the next train of chops. It was a good practice.
The wind was blowing straight from the direction of Los Coronados. I wasn’t really willing to endure the pounding all afternoon, so no Los Coronados sail for us. I decided to sail for a bit more and go back into the bay.
The pounding was pretty immense at times. BlackJack suffered.
I connected the autopilot and let it steer. I don’t know about yours, but my autopilot will happily pound into waves all day. I suffered as well.
I have a trip coming up. When I get back, BlackJack goes to the yard. So no sailing for a couple of weeks.
Pingback: BlackJack At The Yard - J29 BlackJack