The One-Tack Sail

I have to say that sailing in San Diego has been great.  On some days we can set the main as soon as we are out of the fairway in our marina. Just a couple minutes later we make the port turn at the west end of Harbor Island, which puts us on starboard tack, and we can lose the engine.

On most days, we have to tack a couple times before we can lay the channel to the ocean, but not this time!

We had to pinch a bit, but we were able to carry our starboard tack to where we could bear away a bit and lay the exit from the bay.  About 13 knots of wind kept things moving nicely.  Sometimes the terrain around Point Loma accelerates the wind in the area just seaward of the sub base, and we had to ease the main through some gusts, but once we were clear of Point Loma the wind was really very steady.

We stayed on starboard out past the whistler buoy, and when we were ready to head for the barn, we tacked and bore away a little and were able to carry port tack all the way back to the marina...

That was it, sailed all afternoon and tacked once.

SK




--posted Monday, Jun 29, 2009