A sail across Suisun Bay into Grizzly Bay and a couple of miles up the Montezuma Slough was a study in contrasts in which I unintentionally broke a couple of my own recent speed records. The forecast was for mild winds, but when I set off in Little Cat, the wind was "blowing dogs of chains" as the Aussies say. I reached back and forth across Suisun Bay before running off for the shelter of the slough. See short video below of conditions in a relatively quiet moment.
In a previous sail, me and Little Cat had reached at a max corrected speed of 14 knots. This trip the gps posted an instantaneous reading of 15.7 knots, and recorded several corrected speeds in the 14-knot range (average over a 100m), with a max corrected speed of 14.9 knots (see table bottom of post). We also posted our best yet average speed of 13.5 knots over 500 meters, and 12.6 knots over a nautical mile - good numbers!
But the wind was a bit much and we ran off into Montezuma slough at the top of Grizzly Bay. Compared to the strong winds in Suisun Bay, the slough was a study in tranquillity and we had a wonderful time ghosting along at a couple of knots for a couple of miles up the slough.
We anchored a couple of miles upstream and had lunch and coffee, before reefing the sails down for the beat back. The wind was blowing gently across the slough, so was delighted to be able to sail both up and down the river without using the outboard.
But then it was time to head home, and we beat back against the wind and tide with one reef in and that was fun too. Back outside the marina, I dropped the jib and tried to fire up the outboard but couldn't. After poking around (and drifting up harbor with the tide), I found that one of the bow lines was wrapped around the prop, stalling it whenever I put the clutch in! This was the first time I had been caught with a fouled prop - luckily no damage was done. 26.5 nautical miles this trip.
In a previous sail, me and Little Cat had reached at a max corrected speed of 14 knots. This trip the gps posted an instantaneous reading of 15.7 knots, and recorded several corrected speeds in the 14-knot range (average over a 100m), with a max corrected speed of 14.9 knots (see table bottom of post). We also posted our best yet average speed of 13.5 knots over 500 meters, and 12.6 knots over a nautical mile - good numbers!
But the wind was a bit much and we ran off into Montezuma slough at the top of Grizzly Bay. Compared to the strong winds in Suisun Bay, the slough was a study in tranquillity and we had a wonderful time ghosting along at a couple of knots for a couple of miles up the slough.
We anchored a couple of miles upstream and had lunch and coffee, before reefing the sails down for the beat back. The wind was blowing gently across the slough, so was delighted to be able to sail both up and down the river without using the outboard.
But then it was time to head home, and we beat back against the wind and tide with one reef in and that was fun too. Back outside the marina, I dropped the jib and tried to fire up the outboard but couldn't. After poking around (and drifting up harbor with the tide), I found that one of the bow lines was wrapped around the prop, stalling it whenever I put the clutch in! This was the first time I had been caught with a fouled prop - luckily no damage was done. 26.5 nautical miles this trip.
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