Easter Monday - First Sail of the Year!

Who could have imagined sailing in t-shirts and shorts in Nova Scotia on April 5, 2010! What an absolutely fantastic weekend. I worked on the boat for three days and figured I deserved a day off. The varnish could wait.

Judy and I and Mark headed off to the city early this morning to pick up the sails and charts for Halifax. We had a car load with all our brand new custom cushions, thanks to Mrs. Grant, 5 gallons of diesel fuel. 10 gallons of water, the dodger, sail cover and all our Transport Canada safety gear. All of a sudden, our 30 foot boat seemed very small once we started stowing gear and sails. We got the main sail on and opted to go with the working jib for our first sail.

Judy packed us an amazing lunch of Easter Egg salad sanwiches and fruit salad. We ate at the dock, put away the food, got out a celebratory drink and headed off. The wind had died down quite a bit by mid afternoon, so getting out past Purcell's Cove was slow going. We caught some really nice wind off Ferguson's Cove and headed off towards McNab's Island. Two huge container ships past us and we saw one other sailboat coming in from Herring Cove.

We did run into (not literally) our dock neighbour who was out on his Douglas 32 on our way in (which is for sale on Kijiji Halifax by the way). He was sailing single handed without a main, so we slipped past pretty easily. A short time later he started his diesel and headed for Armdale. When we arrived he was kicking back sipping on red wine.

Our first trip was 13 nautical miles, with a top speed of a modest 6 knots (85% working jib and mainsail). We made it out past Sandwich Point before turning back. Winds were light. Sunny and warm. The perfect day to get our sea legs and try out Exploits. We can't wait for the next trip!