Went on the river this afternoon as the winds were projected to be 10 knots with 20 knot gusts with a possibility of thunderstorms waning (originally, the forecast called for higher chances of storms), which sounded like a great day to sail. With high winds, it was a bit of a challenge pulling the boat away from the dock, especially with another boat next to me now, reducing the amount of space to maneuver.
After getting out on the water, I headed to my usual spot about a mile out. The gusts became more frequent, averaging 15-20 knots and the water was very choppy. After attempting to put the main sail up I quickly realized that sailing in this wind singlehandedly was not going to be the safe choice, as the auto-helm was not able to keep up with the choppy water going against the wind. I don’t currently have my main halyard going to the cockpit, so in order to raise and lower the sails I must walk away from the helm and go up front.
In the end, with dark clouds gathering and a thunderstorm looking more likely, I decided to abort the sail and head back to the dock. The docking went very smoothly even with the high winds. The lesson learned from this outing is that I need to run my halyards to the cockpit in order to safely raise and lower the sails without leaving the helm. Stay tuned for that project…
Thank you for sharing your captains log.