Daysail on Another Chance

July 25, 2010…

The day started off with rain all around, so we figured it would be a day stuck at the dock. By afternoon the sky had cleared and it was hot/muggy feeling. Jim on s/v Another Chance suggested we motor his boat over to Santa Rosa Island (SRI) to swim and cool off; he also wanted to check out his new Danforth’s holding. It’d also give me a chance to experience his autopilot, which is close to the model we plan to get for Monomoy.

We headed out of the slip with Jim at his helm.

Ben handled the bow dock lines.

We passed Monomoy as she slept in her berth. Her name is obscured, because I had lowered the dinghy a bit to drain some rain water a little better while at the slip.

Blake went below to visit with Highway.

Once out into the bay we found that the wind was picking up. So we put out the sails and had a great sail over to SRI.

Pogo got comfortable.

After a bit, she decided she wanted to view the scenery.

Jim explained various functions of the autopilot to Ben.

Then Ben explained to Carol why we must have an autopilot.

Blake took a nap.

We found a good spot, anchored, and swam around for a bit.

After we all had essentially worked out by swimming against the current, we pulled anchor and headed back. The wind had built to around 15-20 knots with following seas that were in the 1-2 foot range.

The sky was beautiful.

As we were cruising back, Carol noticed a dolphin, then Blake thought he could see two, but it turned out we had 5 on our bow and 4 off the port stern.

Once our sea friends departed, we noted 4 fishing vessels headed out.

What a great experience and fun afternoon of sailing!