Great day

We've been researching how to fully rig the mainsail since our fiasco last weekend with the motor issues, and having to cancel going out with Dave's friends for a lesson. We think we have it figured out, so we got a sitter for the kids so we could better concentrate on getting it rigged. We also got some new WOODEN oars, and made some adjustments to the motor.

Dave went yesterday to do some stuff and basically had it all rigged. We got settled and raised the sail while still moored, and practiced reefing a couple times and Dave got what we thought was the Jib hooked up. But more on that in a few. Dropped the sail again and decided to head out.

Motored out to the hurricane barrier, then shut the motor off and hoisted the sail. YAY!! We practiced for a

while just past the barrier, and Dave wanted to see how different it would be by raising the jib. Well, we were going upwind and it seemed to be pretty difficult. The "jib" sail seemed to be too big. Always getting caught up on the life line. Dave thought maybe it was rigged wrong. So we dropped it and folded it up and put it away. Made it much easier after that. He later realized he had grabbed the spinnaker and not the jib. We decided that for now, we will just sail the mainsail until we get more comfortable with it before trying the jib.

We headed out just past the Butler Flats light house. We were just getting used to the way the wanderlust handled and the way the different positions of the sail made it react. The way different sail angles caught the wind and how to best position to gain speed.

We had so much fun this time compared to last weekend. And we can't wait to take the kids with us next time. Also can't wait to finally get lessons to add to what we've been able to learn on our own.

We did really well our first time just using the sails, and no motor. We were even able to sail back right to our mooring and tie up without using the motor.

Here are a few short videos we took.

Sailing upwind towards the lighthouse:
Or check out on youtube

Sailing downwind, heading back, facing the back toward the dinghy:

Or check it out on youtube

Sailing downwind, heading back, facing the front:
or check out on youtube