Man's Best Friend

Voyage date: 8-24-10

Departure: 13:05

Arrival: 15:15

Conditions: steady NE breeze 8-10 kts, 78F, storms developing to south and west, cloud cover and wind increasing

Sometimes I enjoy being around animals more than humans. It is therapeutic to escape the responsibilities and drama of life to reengage with my inner child and savor the essence of playing. I love to sail with my beagle Snoopy. He is always excited to jump in the explorer and go on an adventure with me. He doesn't care where we go or what we do as long as he can get away form the house and escape the crate and tether of life at home. Ironically, today's wind was similar to my harrowing experience on Friday the 13th, however, I made a simple adjustment to my autopilot that made departure with wind off the stern surprisingly easy! I pulled the tiller more to the starboard side and locked the lines in place with the camcleats so that when I pushed off from shore, the stern of the boat would rapidly cut through the wind and point me in the direction for a close reach port tack. I also installed a cunningham on the mainsail running from the cringle above the tack down to a block and up to a fixed point on the mast and a downhaul on the jib running from one of the velcro hanks to the ramshead on the foredeck. My uncle David noticed some diagonal sags in my sails which reduced sail efficiency and suggested I needed a downhaul to mitigate this problem and smooth out the sail surface so the windflow across the sails is more laminar rather than turbulent. These three simple adjustments assisted with departure. Trial and error solves a lot of problems in life. Most of today's voyage, I didn't think about much other than observing "Snoop's" various moments: chillin between the jib and main halyards on top of the cabin, walking the gunwhale and pausing to see his reflection in the starboard cabin window, finding the shade behind the jib and mainsail, his pensive moment with me in the cockpit, and taking a "dog" nap on the cabin top. I like to sail before storms that develop in the afternoon and search for the perfect window of opportunity! As the clouds started to roll in, the wind picked up improving sailing conditions like a musical crescendo! The water was playing its tune under and around my boat, with the woodwinds playing in the luff of my sails and through the leaves in the trees! Once again, I was in the zen!

Video 1: Snoop chillin between the halyards

Video 2: Snoop checking jib trim

Video 3: Snoop awakens to check wind direction