Sunday Sail

[B.Hart]

Sailed beautiful lake Harris on sunday,winds were nnw @10mph. Got to use my new genoa fairleads and tracks, BIG improvment      Our sailing season is just getting started [at least to me, this summer has been too hot and no wind] I was wondering when is other peoples favorite sailing season? :?

[capnjohn]

Right NOW here in the Chesapeake!  Winds die down so much in the summer, then hurricane season happens... This summer was so impossibly hot that most people just stayed inside and are now venturing out.  With the winds we're getting from Ophelia now, I can't wait to get out this weekend!!!!

[pbrenton]

In Maine (Casco Bay) I keep trying to sail in September, but between the overly-enthusiastic wind and the beginning of the school year (I work at a University, have two kids) I may as well pull Ella J at Labor Day.  I do like June in Maine (although it is a little bit cool still, sometimes) because many Maine sailors do not put in until the 4th of July or just before, so the bay is relatively empty of 'tourists'.  So I vote for June as my "favorite".

My buddy who is retired (and lives in a house overlooking the mooring field) swears by October sailing in Maine.  Being a weekender, there is just too little reliability (especially this year) to plan on; I really do not wish to sail in drenching rail or 40 mph winds that have been the norm from Saturday AM to Sunday PM this year.  It also blows enough on occasion that I am too nervous to keep her in through September to take advantage of the often pleasant (though cool) October weather.  This week we are welcoming Wilma to the area (probably 50-100 miles offshore), and I would not sleep as well if Ella were still on the mooring.  A 32 footer went on the beack just two weeks ago, I'd rather that did not happen to me.

July and August are beautiful weatherwise (dry and not too hot, usually pleasant breezes) in Casco Bay, but you can walk from one end of the bay to the other across the lobster buoys, so we are sure the rudder kicks up smoothly and run the motor as little as possible.  I'm still scraping bright threads of buoy paint off my hull though.

Pete