Sunday recap

Sunday morning we weren't quite as slow to get moving as on Saturday, but we still had things to do around the house (including shooing a packrat out of El Caballero's engine compartment) and it was afternoon by the time we descended upon the marina with sailing gear, a bucket of gravel, and seven feet of four-inch diameter pvc pipe.

We visited with some friends, noticed that the weekend work crew had succeeded in winching the marina about five yards further from the shore and inserted a new gangway segment, bailed some water out of our MacGregor (Syzygy), and sorted out which gear went on which boat before sailing.

We raised Black Magic's mainsail (the halyard lock worked perfectly the first time; it isn't always so cooperative) and backed out of the slip, caught a modest breeze, and tacked out the Narrows to the main body of Heron Lake, chatting with crews from a couple of other boats, re-routing a control line while underway, and then tacking long tacks out to the far (west) end of the lake.

When most of the way across, we encountered a Merit 25 whose crew tacked her just downwind and some boatlengths ahead of us; they seemed to have had the idea of racing us. We adjusted trim, climbed over them, and left them astern, which was fun while the boats were still fairly close, then finished crossing the lake and tacked to head back toward the marina.

We'd readied a spinnaker, but just about when we reached the far end of the lake, the wind switched about 140 degrees from something like WSW to NNE. So, we made almost the whole trip close-hauled, including tacking back through the cliff-bound Narrows with some interesting wind switches, headers, velocity headers, lifts, kitchen skinks, flying monkeys, whatever. We sailed into the dock and put the boat away before a bit of wind and rain visited the marina. After we'd secured Black Magic, Tadpole also helped dock the Merit, which had given up on sailing and had eventually motored back through the Narrows to the marina.

CA then went to the Stone House to refill a propane bottle while Tad worked on a marina pier and I dug a trench and installed the pvc pipe as a drainage line to protect the trail going down to the marina. We also got the dockmaster's help in making measurements for another project and took a look at some "knee braces" that will be installed on B west dock.

Too soon it was time to leave the marina, feed the cats and ourselves at the cabin (vermicelli and a marinara sauce with lots of oregano along with a nut bread that CA had baked that morning), pack El Caballero, leave for Albuquerque with Tadpole, leaving CA and the cats at the cabin. We passed through the construction area north of Cebolla, where, at least, the southern mile or two are now mostly re-paved. After about twenty miles it began to rain. To our surprise, it continued raining -- remember New Mexico is supposed to be a dry place ? -- and raining, and sometimes raining heavily, all the way about 145 miles into Albuquerque. The traction control light and the windshield wipers got a workout. So, at least the lakes in the central and southern end of the state should benefit quite a bit from this latest mega-cloudburst.

Next weekend should be busy: match racing (hope we don't have to bribe someone to race against CA and crew), putting some Sunfish in the water (Boy Scouts will be coming the following weekend), bailing out and repairing Syzygy (deck leaks, broken bimini track, broken centerboard uphaul, dings, etc.), working on the marina, and attending a birthday party for a bunch of very active 75-year-olds, etc. Plus, we need to practice and work on all of our long list of "lessons learned" from Dillon; we now have a much better idea of what we need to do to improve our sailing.