My first trip out of the harbor solo happened! It was VERY uneventful which in the sailing world is always a good thing right? The day was absolutely beautiful for November. It was about 65 degrees and a perfectly clear sky. The problem was there was NO WIND! I had lunch on the boat and the wind started to pick up ask I prepped the boat for sailing and 20 minutes later I was in the harbor looking for wind and just as it normally happens the wind died completely. I practiced my wing and wing technique in low wind and slowly sailed down the harbor. I thought hmm…maybe more wind down by the middle of the harbor. Got there and NOPE…no wind. OK maybe past the ferry. NOPE…no wind…OK how about by the Coast Guard station….NOPE! At this point I am looking out of the harbor and see its very clear. I decided to put my offshore life vest on and test the wind just outside the channel.
Here is the view from the boat heading out of the channel. Notice the electric Duffy boat coming in from the ocean. You almost NEVER see these boats in the open ocean as they are designed for harbor use only. Also here is a pic of the Sea Lions on the buoy outside of Newport Harbor.
Once I got out of the harbor I was surprised at just how calm it was. Perfectly calm, and NO WIND. The was enough to fill the sail at times, but not enough to move the boat at all. I stayed out in the Ocean about an hour, hoping for some wind to pick up. I realized I didn’t put enough money in the meter, so I pulled back into the harbor, added more money to my meter and then went back out into the ocean…again NO WIND. I decided that this was good enough for the day and pulled back into the harbor and moored the boat. All in all a GREAT way to get used to being out of the harbor. Here is a video of the trip.
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/32099358 w=800&h=500]
Here is the GPS track of the trip,
Congrats! Keep going!