Wind Indicator

My brother Mike, in town for Jessica's graduation from flight school, pulled me up Alana's mast this afternoon to replace the Davis wind indicator. It was only a year old, but apparently some stinking bird had attempted to land upon it (too bad it was not skewered on the bird-spike) and broke it off. I took the opportunity to look around up there checking the fittings, and happily found everything to be in order.

Mike thinks he may be able to join me for at least part of the trip around to Savannah next month, so I am now much more excited about that trip. We have a good time sailing together, and the extra body should mean faster sailing.

All Systems Go

Yesterday, Jessica and I took Alana out for a short afternoon sail around Pensacola Bay. We mainly wanted to test the recently repaired autopilot (it worked perfectly), but also needed to check out everything before I set out for Savannah in less than a month. I'm happy to report that every system we operated worked, so I can now concentrate on cosmetics and voyage preparation. You have no idea how much more appealing the idea of a solo trip around Florida to Savannah WITH an autopilot is, than without. I am now looking forward to the trip rather than dreading it.

We had perfect conditions for a leisurely sail, about 80 degrees and 10-12 knots out of the south. The only real hitch in our adventure was my stupid attempt to leave the dock with a spring line still over, but even that was resolved without incident. We toasted the successful autopilot test (4+ months & $3,000+), then Jessica got back to studying as I fiddled with lines, etc. This was indeed my idea of a great day!