… And Winnie Loved It Too

We took our 12-year old Westie Winnie for her first ever sail this weekend. Don't ask why it's taken us so long but there was always some reason not to. As you can see, she loved it. The conditions were pretty interesting. We left Perth Amboy in 15kts W, ideal for a wing-on-wing run East. As the winds built to 20kts, Cadence was cruising along nicely. By 1600 the winds were close to 25kts and we turned Northwest back towards Great Kills. Even with two reefs in the main and a shortened headsail it was a handful. In the end we dropped the main altogether and sailed with 2/3s of the genoa out, still powering along at 6 kts. We entered into the well-protected harbor of Great Kills and anchored along the Northwestern edge. It's a lovely anchorage with parkland along most of its banks. A clubmate joined us for dinner and we had a peaceful and uneventful night. The next morning we returned early in perfect conditions, 15kts, sunny and cool. Winnie loved it!