Extremely windy today. Winds here in Anderson were showing at 24 mph (sustained) with gists to about 60 mph. If the temperatures were up in the mid 50's F rather than hovering in the upper 30's F, today would have been a great day for me to have gone sailing at the lake, if I didn't happen to have had my shop open.

I couldn't get away from my boating and fishing shop today since my hours here during the Winter season are Wed - Fri from 10 am til 5 pm, but my friend, Capn Dan went out to the sail club and left me a message letting me know that my vessel was handling the wind and waves well out on its protected mooring.

I took Amy out sailing on Canadian Mist on Jan. 1st from about 1300 til about 1700 hrs, which that was a cold, windy day. Temps that day were in the upper 40's but the winds were recorded at the lake at being around 15-18 mph with gusts at 40+, so it felt a lot colder. Being that I was sailing single-handedly, I decided to just try the mainsail by itself, which proved to be a lot of fun. A few times, I had my vessel heeling over at about 25°, with the foot rails skimming the water's surface and the spray from the breaking waves attacking my face even with my being aft in the cockpit. Amy stayed in the cabin below since it was a good bit warmer in the cabin.

When nearing the harbor, I decided how my vessel would handle in doing a quick 360° turn and she responded marvelously. I then sailed her into the harbor and docked her under sail (though I did have the engine on for just in case I needed to engage the propeller).

I prefer sailing her single-handedly in much lighter winds, but I wanted to see how she handled in heavy winds. She performed well.

Last weekend, a friend of mine named Dan took his vessel out for a sail on Sunday and invited Amy and me to sail with him that afternoon. The winds were light and we sailed on Dan's vessel (Dream Weaver) all afternoon, spending about 4.5 hrs sailing that Sunday. Although I have been privy to sail on Dream Weaver a few times in the past, Amy never has, so it was a new experience for her. We all had a great, smooth sail.