In my previous post I was griping about a trifling bit of snow as you may recall. It was gone by 9 AM and forgotten soon after that. The weather reports for Sunday were now capturing our imaginations as the weather was predicted to turn for the better, sort of. The prediction was that it would be partly sunny, a big improvement to be sure and the temperature would be somewhere near 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Also better. The winds however were a different matter. The previous week had shown us winds between 20 and 30 knots and had kept us from actually sailing our new boat, but for Sunday the prediction was for 1 to 2 knots. A big, multi-state high had moved in, fortunately is was not sticking around as they some times do. So the decision was made that we were going to go and take what ever we get. We didn’t really want to much wind anyway, this being our first time out with the new sailboat and all.

Well, we relearned to not put too much stock in the forecasts for wind estimates, as they always seem to be off. I would estimate that the winds were more like 3 to 5 knots with maybe some puffs a little higher. This was perfect to our minds and exactly what we had wanted for our first time out on Bella. We had a great time during our 5 hour sail, our peak speed registered 5.2 knots on a beam reach during one of stronger puffs.

We are extremely pleased with how the Precision 23 handles the light stuff. The boat is much more stable than our last sailboat, which makes us feel more secure. At one point Bella was heeled at around 10 degrees and my wife said she did not even notice, she was standing in the cabin at the time and yes, it was one of the few times she allowed me to be at the helm so I was having a little fun. If you would like to read a little more about why I am not allowed to helm very often you may do so here. All kidding aside, our last boat at 10 degrees was commanding our full attention, so this is something we appreciate. The other thing that struck us was that during tacks we did not need to worry so much about leaping to the other side of the cockpit. Another happy turn of events. so of course now we need to take her out in some real wind to see how we do. Our confidence is much higher now and we expect only more good things to come. The weather for this coming weekend sounds like it is going to be quite nice, sunny and 70’s with winds from 4 to 11 knots. I can’t wait!

Here’s Bella in her slip, sans fenders. Some one pointed out that I should have removed the fenders in the last photo’s. Ain’t she sweet?

This photo is of another sailboat sailing in front of Maiden Rock on the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin. The story goes something about how a young maiden was distraught over a young man and hurled herself off the cliff. The cliff sits directly across the river from our marina, so even the great Capt. Puffy Pants should be able to find his way home, we’ll see I guess. We do have a compass now, so that should help. Still have not mounted the GPS, however. I know from previous experience how finding your way in the dark can be tricky business without a nice, big, fat waypoint to steer towards.