It was the weekend. I decided to take BlackJack out, but it was a dreary day. No sun, dark clouds, slightly chilly wind.
Being a lazy sod that I am, I decided to go with just the mainsail.
A masthead J29 sails surprisingly well with just the mainsail. It’s like a Laser. Well, a 6000lb Laser that is, but a J29 with just the main will go upwind at 5 knots or more easily given 10 knots of wind and flat water.
And there is an added bonus. If I just sail with the mainsail alone, I don’t have to fold the headsail all by myself afterward.
I also wanted to try out the Spinlock mainsail feeder I bought recently. It didn’t take too long to find out that it’s too small to clear the top full batten, however.
Oh well, I was contemplating switching to slides on a new mainsail anyways.
Getting out of the marina was a little nerve-wracking. I don’t know why I get nervous getting out of the slip. I’ve only run into other boats once.
Once out on the bay, there was enough wind. And not many powerboats. Two things that are a joy to us sailors.
There is a good side to poor weather, I suppose.
I went down the bay to Star of India, then sailed back upwind. There was 10 knots of wind, and BlackJack seemed content going upwind with just the mainsail.
Then I saw a container ship coming down the bay. I had to bear off and get out of the channel. It was a Pasha Hawaii container ship.
Some sailors ship their boats from Hawaii on this container line after those west-coast-to-Hawaii races.
Could BlackJack be on that container ship someday after I sail to Hawaii?
Well, you never know.
I puttered around the bay for a bit longer to make sure that everything on the boat is still in order.
I then went back to my slip and put the boat away.
