Cold Winter Sailing

I'm trying to get out on Prestissimo once a month in  the winter.  The trips have all been 3 days & 2 nights out on the water.  I've managed to pick warmish clear days for both trips, one in November with almost no wind, and another in January with fantastic winds the whole time.

Here Darius Orocz, the electrical contractor for our house "Gray Owl" in Asheboro, is sitting with me, and I'm wearing the Captain's hat Carlie gave me.

Dave Nemetz (below) is a great crew and he took these pictures.  It is always a pleasure to see him making small adjustments to the sails.  It is so easy to "set it and forget it" when the wind is steady and the autopilot is doing the steering.

We weren't the only boats out enjoying the 10-15 kt winds and clear sunny day with temperatures going up to the 50's F.  We practiced setting an intercepting course and sailed together for a while.

With the keel up to 6' and hard on the 15 kt wind we had an invigorating sail.  The wind died down each night and the central heat on the boat kept the cabin warm.  It was a real pleasure to have all the systems working properly...  except for the perennial disconnect between the SOG and speed through the water continues.  But on this trip we found that one tack was accurate and the other tack the boat speed showed 2 - 3 knots faster than SOG.

The battery bank is wearing out after 7 years.  When new, I had 40 amp hours (at 144 vdc) when fully charged, and now it is down to 5.  As a result I turned off the heat when everyone got to bed.

Even though we weren't in the Caribbean I still sounded the conch at sundown.