Thank you for that, Wally!
Yesterday was one of those unbelievable bucket list days. So let me get straight to the pictures of the maiden voyage of the Barlavento. Windward.
She is a brand new 42 foot Valiant sailing yacht and had never had her sails raised.
Phil, her owner became DATE #19.
The cabin is lovely.
So we motor out to the Columbia River and up with the sails! Main first. It is a self reefing sail which is hauled up electrically.
Then the jib...which furls around the thingy and is drawn out by hand.
Johnny takes the wheel for a little while. The wind is extremely light and blowing down river, so we tack upriver. After an hour of tacking we see that we are in the same spot as where we started due to the current.
Phil fires up the 55hp inboard diesel and we head for a bridge just to see the other side of it. Now I have the wheel!! And they better not even think about taking it away from me.
I posted all of these pictures so I can look back at how HAPPY I was at this moment in time!
This boat carries 57 feet of mast, but no worries because the bridge is about 150 feet up there.
We waited a moment on the barge to clear the bridge.
Like a floating light house.
Fun sights along the way! Carla and I prepared hors d'ouvres and scrumptious chicken salad with grapes and pecans stuffed in **** bread with avocado, cucumber, and tomato. We popped the top on a rose champagne and toasted the Barlavento while avoiding collision with this...
The Ironwood
We saw the other side of the bridge, and came about still under power. Soon after motoring under the bridge again, we caught some wind and the river busied up with afternoon sailing races. Off with the power and now WE BE SAILING!!!
That's right dude, we are on starboard tack...so fall off.
Thank you!
I kept this piece of inner dialogue to myself, but I was thinking, "I am sailing this big freaking ship with 57 foot mast and 9500 pound keel, drafting 6 feet, costing close to half a million, ocean worthy, first time with sails, threading my way through sailing races, barges, water skiers, and bridges and no one is worried?!" heheheh I quickly switched from closely watching all the electronics to FEELING the wind to find the pocket.
Phil was enjoying being able to wander and tinker with trim.
Mt Hood in the distance.
Oh Yeah!
Close hauled.
About 4 hours later, they ripped me loose from the wheel. This day will live on for me!