#10 !!!!!!!

Sail number 10 today. This has us down to $50 per sail so far and there are 4 months still to go.  I think we may soon be entering a period when the water gets to cold and hard (ice) to sail thru, but today was great.  I didn't even wear a hat.

49'f and steady winds WSW
Taken by Tom Ersk on his Pearson Wanderer "TnT".
Thanks Tom.
She looks like a long 21 feet to me!?

I did have to motor thru some ice pancakes in order to get out of my berth.  My berth was clear of ice but just a boat length or so away it was about a quarter to a half an inch thick.  The hull shape had us push up on top of the ice and then the weight of the boat would break thru.  The little motor had a little bit more work to do but nothing significant.  Maybe I got some of the bottom scraped clean in the process!!!

At my return I went to the marina office and made arrangements to shift to a new slip as many others were closer to the marina entrance and had an ice free path out.  Now I walk a little further to get to the boat but I have to motor less to get out passed the breakwater and I might be able to get out a few more days when I might have been frozen in at the previous berth.

With the working jib and a reef in the main we had the lee rail in the water when the wind was strongest, but mostly it was just easy peasy lemon squeezy!

▶ 2013 sail #10 - YouTube

I am more and more impressed with this boat each time I sail her.  Today with the working jib and reefed main the helm was pretty close to balanced but the thing that is impressive is how quick she seems.  I think that all my time sailing full keeled displacement hulls was led me to be surprised by the lighter planing hulls and their quickness.

Well if I don't get out again for a while I can look back fondly on a good season thus far.  Averaging one sail a week is just fine for me.  I am hopeful that at the end of the spring time I will get more time out each week but considering that most boats have been put up for the season I feel pretty fortunate.  I will say that I was not alone out there today.  It was with great pleasure that I saw 3 other sail boats out, 2 under sail and one just drifting and motoring but enjoying the warmth the day offered.

It is a good way to end the year, and begin the new one.