Highlander sails the chill waters of Lake Heron

Stern view of Highlander pushing through a brisk breeze and choppy water. Like our first boat, a MacGregor 26 classic, the water-ballasted Hunter can heel quickly when a gust hits. To keep the boat on her feet and compensate for being crewless, Highlander's skipper has reefed deeply.




"Highlander" is a water-ballasted twenty-six-foot Hunter 26. Her skipper, also known in this blog as "Highlander", was soloing the boat in gust winds. Just before the start of the race, he shook out a reef in his mainsail. Unfortunately, a bad knot led to a sail tear and so Highlander's participation in the race was short-lived. Highlander (the skipper) is also the New Mexico Sailing Club's commodore and can frequently be counted upon to reward his crew's hard labors with an appropriately sailorly libation.