Pleasant Thursday Evening Sail. Warm temperatures, stiff breeze, and a few friends…nice.

Went on an evening sail with my brother and a friend of his, my wife, and a couple of our friends.

It was the first time on a sailboat for the “friends” and a good sail it was for them. Winds were gusting to 21 knots when we left, so I decided to put a reef in the mainsail so it didn’t get too exciting right away. We started out the evening on a “beam reach” and everyone was good with that. Then we jibbed to a “broad reach” and that was good. We then tacked to a “close reach” and all was well. So with everyone digging the sailing so far to that point, we took out the reef, and tacked again, to “close hauled”.

The wind gusts had subsided to less than 15 knots and the “close hauled” sailing was enjoyed by all.

Close Hauled

We averaged 4-5 knots for most of the trip with a top speed of 6.1 knots.

There is a regular Thursday evening racing event in Waukegan and we got to watch the racers go through their paces.

Thursday Evening Racers

We ended the evening with a view of a pretty sunset.