Trying out the new mainsail!! (Posted Dec. 2, 2008)

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Dockside with a hundred other cruisers. We had ten people at our table. Great meal with all the fixings, good friends and, of course, just another gorgeous day in paradise!! (Sunny with temp in the high 70s)

Our new mainsail had arrived a couple of days before so, on the day after Thangsgiving, we went for a sail to try it out. Beautiful sunny day, wind about 10 mph, waves about a foot or two, perfect! We had a great sail out to Sombreo Light about four miles offshore on the reef. We sailed over the coral reef and the water was so beautiful, all emerald and turquoise, and so clear that we could see the reef clearly 20 feet below. There are mooring bouys for boats to tie up to while the people go snorkling and scuba diving. Lots of people were diving and we were very tempted but the water temperature was below our threshold of 80 degrees. Yes, we are Florida wimps when it comes to being cold and we are proud of it!(grin) I guess we should invest in some wetsuits someday.

So we had a wonderful sail back and the new mainsail performed perfectly. Unfortunately, on the way back into the harbor channel, I was not paying proper attention and I told Linda to aim for the WRONG marker. So we ran aground on a sandbar!! We got off OK with the help of a big wake from a large sportsfishing boat.

The motor was not putting out much cooling water (prior to and unrelated to the grounding) so we had to sail back up the channel and back to our mooring in the harbor using the motor only intermittently so it wouldn't overheat. I assume the impeller went bad (the mechanic had not changed it as I had asked him to when he serviced the motor last spring), so I have made arrangements to have it taken ashore next week for repair.

We only have about two weeks now before we fly back to Connecticut for a two week visit for Christmas. We will do our best to soak up as much sun and warmth as we can in the meantime!! :-)

Have a wonderful holiday season. We will do another update after the first of the year.