Ready to Go

The mainsail, bimini and dodger are on. The new anchor chain is marked. We are ready to go for our first sail of the year.

To mark the chain, George laid the chain out on the deck and marked it at 10’ then every 20’ up to 150’. He used strips of red, yellow, and green spinnaker cloth which lasts quite a while and moves easily through the windlass.

Early in the morning on a calm day our friends Jamie and Bob helped muscle the mainsail out of the cabin and onto the deck where they unrolled and flaked (folded it back and forth) the sail. George tied the tack (front corner) and clew (back corner) of the sail onto the boom. Fortunately, he had measured and taken photos of how the sail was tied before he removed it last fall. It is important to get it just right so it rolls properly onto the spindle. I was afraid that it would be hard to get it just right since it was our first time attaching the sail, but it seems he got it exactly right. The sail went up and down perfectly.

We have loaded the mattresses, bedding, and other things we took off the boat for the winter. We packed clothes and food for one night out.

Last evening, when the winds were calm again, we put the bimini and dodger on the boat. Finally we put the folded Porta-Bote onboard, just in case we need it.

We will leave the slip later this morning and meet up with our friends, Dawn and Ray, who will be out on their new boat, Azzurra 2.0.