Late October Sail

 Last Saturday was a spectacular fall day here in Maryland - mid 60's with a steady 12 knot breeze - in other words a perfect day for sailing!  I took the Bucentaure out for a planned few hours that turned into 6 'cause it was just to nice to come in.  We sailed out of Annapolis harbor and weren't the only ones to notice the weather was nice.

 The Comet fleet was out in force (first two pictures) and had a very spirited regatta.

A nice little heel as we are close hauled (that means heading as close into the wind as we can).  The Alerion sails very well close hauled but I have a shoal keel which means I loose a few points to another Alerion with a deeper keel.  The benefit is the boat draws about 1 ft less water which means (hopefully) I don't run aground as much and have wider course options when racing.

 We ran into two other Alerion 28's in the afternoon - here's the the "Skimmer" (hull # 160).  We did some impromptu racing and I learned that I need a lot more practice!

 While hard to see, the right most boat in front is the other Alerion 28 - the "Magic" (hull #429).  One design boats like ours keep track of the hull numbers which also signify the build order.  The Bucentaure is hull #458.

For the month of November, the Bucentaure will be docked in Annapolis at Jabins Boatyard.  My son and I are planning the last sail to be the "Leftover Regatta" which is Nov 29th (the Saturday after Thanksgiving here in the States).

For those of you more interested in miniature gaming posts than sailing, I would expect to see many fewer sailing posts - I really don't like cold water sailing!