Took #45 ,now officially "Spirit" , out for her first legal sail today . Of course it was near 100 degrees and very light SW breeze . But we romped along on the blasts that come off the tributaries . We used the 150 and the old Hood main , it was so light we never needed the winch handle , although we did sustain ( according to GPS )5 knots on a close reach for a mile or so .
We put her on all points of sail and held our own with a Morgan 34 for a short while , untill the owner realized we were much smaller and he should adjust and trim.
Tacked and jibed a few times , ran wing & wing and pinched her up tight to windward to clear a pierhead and managed to embarass a new Hunter 35 that had to tack away , did that made me feel good.
The Nissan 6 -4stroke did just fine even with the wrong prop .
Seems my solar panel died , only putting out 12.25v , was 16v . It was old and came with the boat .
No major mishaps and managed to back in the slip .
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