September 22 | 8.7 Nautical Miles

With the season rapidly winding down, I warned my father that if he wanted to sail, the time was running short. We decided to take a Friday afternoon in late September and met at the yacht club at about 1330. The skies were a bit grey and cloudy, but it wasn't too cold and there was a nice 10-15 knot SW breeze blowing.

We quickly got the boat ready to go, and soon were sailing toward Little Chebeague in a nice breeze. As we passed Clapboard Island, the wind coming in from the Hussey was quite strong, and I went forward to tuck a reef. Soon we were travelling nicely at 5.5 knots and were really enjoying the sailing.

We followed the "normal" route to Little Chebeague, then tacked and sailed up toward Portland. We got to about Mackworth or so before I decided to turn us around and head back. I had to be home by 1800 or so, as I was meeting up with a bunch of guys for a bachelor party weekend of whitewater rafting.

We gybed around and Dad sailed us back to the anchorage on a broad reach. I took over the helm at the yacht club fairway, and sailed us in. We picked up the mooring under sail at about 1550. After putting the boat away we had time to enjoy a frosty beer before heading back in to shore.