11.0 Nautical Miles | Wooden Boat School, Brooklin

The winds continued to blow overnight, and were still blowing at 5-10 knots when everyone awoke at 0715. After a trip ashore, and some breakfast, I put the boat together, and by 0935, we were ready to head out.

Fast Down The Reach

Since the wind seemed to be moderate, and the forecast was for only 10-15 knots out of the northwest, I decided to show the whole main and we motored out of the harbor. Outside I unfurled the jib and Heather started us down the reach, wing-and-wing. She was having a bit of trouble keeping the jib full however, so we soon rolled it in. We only had about 10 miles to go, after all, so if we were a little slow, it was no problem. After about a half hour or so, Heather abandoned the helm and went up on the foredeck to get some sun.

Now that hardly seems fair.

Speed, however, was no problem that day. Despite the forecast, the wind must have been blowing 15-20 with higher gusts and we literally flew down the reach, often at speeds approaching 7 knots. I ended up having to gybe a couple of times, and after the first somewhat startling one, I prudently brought the boat into the wind and tacked around rather than gybing.

Nice New Facilities!

Soon enough we sailed in to the Wooden Boat mooring field and turned up to drop the main. Wow, was the wind howling! After wrestling the flogging sail into submission, we grabbed one of the guest moorings and I put the boat away.

We had a quick lunch aboard, then headed ashore to walk around. We quickly noticed a brand-new shower and bathroom facility had been built near the camping fields and resolved to take advantage of that the following morning. We seemed to have arrived between sessions, and it was very quiet on the property. Being Sunday, even the Wooden Boat Store was closed.

We returned to the boat for naps and Heather and Gavin slept the afternoon away while I huddled in the cockpit with a book and the wind screaming in my hair. Once again, at least the sun was warm! We had a relaxing evening, with a dinner of burgers and grilled potatoe wedges before everyone drifted off to an early sleep. The wind finally died off around 2000.