Today saw Zanshin‘s first real sail this season. I tacked up the Sir Francis Drake Channel for most of the day, enjoying every minute of it with wonderful sensation of being on the water again after months of being cooped up in the office all the time. The winds varied between 10 and 18 knots as did the boat’s speed of 5-9 knots depending on tack, waves and wind. Overall the speed was good and the boat hardly heeled over. I did enjoy passing a 41 foot SunSail boat (pictured below after I passed – on the left hand side as I wasn’t sure if they knew the rules of the road and their next tack would have been to the right) and they also sailed into the North Sound but about an hour after me; just goes to show that LWL (Length on the Water Line) makes a huge difference in a sailboat.
I anchored well off Prickly Pear island as all the good spots close in were already taken, so I’m close to the channel where the bigger boats seem to know nothing of, or just simply ignore, the marked No-Wake zone. But despite 50 feet of water depth the night was comfortable after a small dinner at Saba Rock (I had their bar food Tacos and 3 beers for $40 – their prices seem to have gone up as well). I’m undecided as to whether to head up to Anegada, remain here for another night and go to Leverick for the evening show, or perhaps sail to Jost van Dyke for a pizza at Corsair’s.
Decisions, Decisions…
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