Daysail to Anacapa

On Saturday we took a daysail out to Anacapa Island. We picked up some extra sandwiches which we planned to bring for Dave and his crew aboard Niko Maria out at Frenchie's Cove. We powered out of the harbor and then set the sails for a close reach toward Frenchie's at 5-6 kts. The wind died down as we approached the island so we furled the Genoa and approached Dave's boat under power. It took us a little longer than we expected to get out there, so rather than drop the anchor we just did a quick pass by Dave's boat, which was at anchor.  LeeAnne hung onto the spreader and tossed Dave his sandwiches.  Luckily he caught them, or some fish at Frenchie's would have been enjoying a couple of foot-long roast beef subs.

We did one more spin around Niko Maria and then headed back.  We were hoping the winds would be favorable for flying our new spinnaker, which we've only flown twice.  Initially the winds seemed to have shifted and were right on our nose, so that wasn't going to work.  But once we got a little further away from Anacapa, the winds shifted back to the port beam and we were able to set the spinnaker.  We'd asked Dave to take a few pictures of our boat under sail..  So after they chowed down their sandwiches, they powered up behind us and snapped a few shots.

After setting the spinnaker we FLEW back toward Channel Islands Harbor at 6-7 knots on a broad reach. The wind was blowing 10-15 knots with 4-6 foot following seas. Flying the spinnaker was exciting in these conditions with just the two of us. We were the only ones flying a spinnaker and we got a lot of cheers from passers by, and a few powerboats even swung by to take photos.

After about an hour the wind shifted and got kind of flaky when about half way across the channel so we doused the spinnaker and motor sailed back to the Harbor.