Sailing At Last!

This past Saturday Ken and I escaped from our responsibilities for the morning and finally went sailing.  We woke up early and were off by 8 a.m.  The weather was perfect, with a nice wind and blue skies.

We were the only boat on Lake Pontchartrain, so we were able to practice sailing without any worries of other boats, or spectators. 

After having Nirvana in the in the boat yard for 2 1/2 months, and then having her home for 6 weeks with a broken water pump and rainy weekends, Ken was happy to actually be sailing her again.

... and so was I!

We started with just the head sail up, as we have never gone out without a friend on our sailboat or on another sailboat for support, or help!  There was a pretty good wind, and you can see the waves in the picture above.  The bridge connects Slidell (where we live) to New Orleans.

 After Ken steered a while and got a better feel of how Nirvana responds, he pulled out the head sail.  We didn't pull the head sail all the way out, as it was pretty windy and we didn't want too much too fast.

I have to admit I was a little nervous at first, since we had experienced once before how quickly things can get a little hairy when you're not experienced and it's a windy day.  But, after the head sail was up and I realized we were moving along just fine I was able to kick back and enjoy the music, the breeze, and the beautiful day.  We did a little tacking, and next time we'll try a few more things.  We stayed on the lake for a few hours, and then reluctantly headed back home to take care of those responsibilites that come with being a landlubber.  Too many, I might add!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!