“Ya think we should go out sailing tonight?” This kind of question only has one right answer. I checked with Vick quickly and when I got the okay I popped back up the companion way to give that right answer.
Thirty minutes or so later Ruby, Miles, Victoria, and I joined Chris on his Ranger 26 for an early evening sail. The wind was howling in the harbor so we donned our foulies and embarked with a week’s worth of snacks and things to distract the kids. We motored out the channel and set the sail in about 2 seconds flat. Chris had her all set up for a reef, and within another minute we had the genny out and the main tied down. I love smaller keel boats. We had an exhilarating beat upwind towards the Berkeley Pier and then tacked and fell off to a reach that tucked us in the lee of Treasure Island. Once we got on a starboard tack everything settled down and we took hoods off and loosened our coat collars.
We enjoyed the easy motion on the reach and decided to try going further downwind. A jibe later we were wing on wing (with Tucker the whisker pole on the foredeck) heading back to the channel. We flew home at 5-6 knots (surfing a bit) and sailed right into the harbor. Just in the harbor I asked Chris what he thought about sailing up to the end tie. A few seconds of careful consideration later we were making our plan of approach. The docking went like clockwork and we came to rest kissing the dock.
The best part of sailing on someone else’s boat is that when you are done sailing you just hop off and go home. I helped flake the sail and coil up the lines and halyards. But anything else that needed doing was done by our gracious skipper. That and the surprise of a Monday night adventure made for a pretty awesome sail!