Finally got wifey on the water!

Not too long after my birthday, we reserved a charter for a nice sunny Sunday.

I didn’t find too many takers for the charter, so it ended up just being Drew (who’s been with me on most charters) and Jenn. With just us three, it was an easy morning, finally getting on the boat and in the water by about 10:45 in the morning.

After reaching the end of the channel, we got the sails hoisted up without too much trouble. With the engine shut off, we had a pretty good amount of wind, so we were able to get a good full day’s worth of sailing in. We started by just sailing around back and forth in the bay, but then Jenn suggested that we try to head for the offshore oil platform just before the Houston Ship Channel, to get a closer look. That turned out to be a cool target to reach, because it offered a good lesson on a “lift”.

Lift

When we headed towards the platform, it was not possible to sail directly towards it, because that would have meant sailing directly into the wind, which is impossible. So we were forced to sail about 30 degrees north of our desired target. But at some point, the wind shifted, such that we were now able to point directly to the platform and still maintain good speed. This shift in wind is called a “lift”, because there was a favorable wind shift of +20 degrees or so, and this wind shift allowed us to sail on a more direct course to the target, without being forced to change tacks and zig-zag to the target. (The opposite of a lift is a “header”, which takes you more off of your desired track.)

I managed to get us fairly close to the platform, but we didn’t get the close-up we were looking for because I changed tack too early, and to try to sail alongside the platform for a closer look would have been too risky. So we contented ourselves with a few photos and went on our way.

Wrapping it up and heading in

The “casse-croûte” was a simple spread of chips & guac, and also a great Boursin cheese spread but with some badly stale crackers. The tortilla chips were good enough, and we tidied up after eating and got back to business sailing again. By the end of the outing, we managed to get our speed up to about 6 knots, which was not bad in the moderate winds we were sailing in.

When we made it back to the marina, the docking was dicey because of the winds and strong current pushing towards the slip. Maybe also because I suck at docking? Anyway the docking was not slap-stick comedy, but there were at least two trials before we managed to get in safely.

After tidying up the sails and getting the sail covers on, we were done with our charter and we scooted on home. Another charter in the bag!

Click here to see additional pictures from the excursion (ask Joel for the password).