Oh boy

 9/5- Long Cove, Tenants Harbor ME

   Well today started easy enough as we had a nice downwind run with just our Yankee out. I knew from the wind direction and the forecast that once we turned the corner of Hupper Island things would get hard. It was blowing 15-20 and this is a narrow area with an ess like twist to it. We rolled up the Yankee and ran out the stay sail. I wasn’t sure if I could drive the boat with this sail alone but in this area I wanted a sail I could tack easily. Well none of this worked very well. The wind was hard right on the nose and there were several boats transiting the area at the same time so we called for Mr Perkins to help us out. 

   Once we got to Marshall Point the stay sail became a bit of liability as it kept blowing us off course. I finally said screw it and decided to roll it up. That’s when trouble began. There was a wrap in the furling line inside the drum and I couldn’t pull any of the sail in. I went up to try and unwind it and by now we were crashing through 4-5 foot waves. I was immediately drenched but I still tried to untangle the line. After about  ten minutes of being dunked every 10 seconds I got the brilliant idea to lower the sail. I did manage to accomplish this without much trouble and lashed it on deck. 

   Now we just bashed our way northward through big steep waves caused by wind against the tide. We slowly but surely made our way into Tenant’s Harbor and tied up at our favorite Nutmeg mooring. 

   The wrap in the line was most likely caused by releasing the furling line too fast when we rolled out the sail. It had at least two wraps on the drum and I had to unspool the whole thing to get them cleared. 

   It was also probably a dumb idea to head into a 15-20 knot wind with the tide going the other way. Live and learn I guess. Anyway we got treated to another fantastic cloud performance at sunset. 

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