Honey, did he say 'Gale Warning'?!?!?

We had our first test of the family crew in big(ish) winds on Saturday. We left Solomons, Maryland mid morning with a 48 mile sail in front of us. As we left, the wind was out of the north at about 15 knots, and forecasted to gust up to 20. Once we left the shelter of Cove Point and entered the main body of the Chesapeake, we discovered the winds were in the 20’s, gusting to 25 so we quickly rounded up and tucked in a reef in the main.

I was happy we had practiced reefing in mild weather as the process went smoothly. With a reef in both the Main and Jib, we turned south and blew south down the Bay. The ride was very comfortable doing around 7 or so knots until we reached the mouth of the Potomac River where the winds cranked up to the high 20’s gusting into the low 30s and the waves got steep and lumpy.

We put in a 2nd reef in the main and tucked in a little more of the jib and continued south surfing along at about 8.5 knots. We could have left more sail up as Lagoon suggests that you can run downwind with full sails until the boat reaches 15 knots or accelerations become strong and sudden, but we weren’t in any hurry and I wanted to be able to maneuver comfortably at any point of sail without having to reduce sail first. The thing about catamarans is that you can reach downwind very fast with lots of sails, but you must be prepared to reduce sails fast if you need to maneuver or you risk breaking something. Jen and I were happy surfing in the mid 8’s with 2 reefs in the Main and Jib.

By the time we reached our destination, Sandy Point in Wicomico River Virginia, the winds were blowing a full 30 knots (gusting to mid 30's) and we were hearing gale warnings from the Coast Guard on the VHF. Dropping the Main in this wind was a little exciting, but as usual when Mom and Dad tells Quinn we need him to sit still while we run the boat he is a good boy and sits still. Somehow he figures out that its not a trivial request and doesn't pull his usual schenanegans.

The anchorage Jen selected worked out very well. We were protected from the worst of the winds and although we were still in 20+ knot winds, the waves were a foot or less. Our anchor held fast on the first attempt and settled down to a well deserved steak dinner.

Jen and I were very happy with the performance of Mirasol in these winds and 6’ steep waves. We had to gibe several times in strong winds, but with the wide traveler on a catamaran, it’s as easy as tacking. Simply leave the Main sheeted in at the far end of the traveler, perform the gibe and then ease the main to the lee with the traveler. Quite civilized in comparison with gibing on a monohull, which can be um, exciting, so to speak.

Just about everything stayed where we put it, including photo frames, books, etc. A couple of plastic glasses tumbled out of the overhead cabinet when Jen opened it while preparing dinner, prompting her to comment “take care opening overhead compartments, contents may have shifted during flight” which we both found very funny, having both spent more than our fair share of time flying around the world in our work life.

Anchoring overnight in 25 knot winds was new to us and I was up several times checking to make sure our anchor was holding. It held like a champ all night. I think it’ll take many more nights like this before I can rest easy on the hook when it’s blowing in the 20’s.

Since we're almost to Norfolk, we decided to wait out the rest of the wind on Sunday and spent the day learning more about the electronics, planning our route to Norfolk, doing Halloween art projects and playing with legos. Quinn is quite proud of his lighthouse!

Tomorrow we're off to Irvington, VA.