First Sail of the Season on Kentucky Lake

  Above is a picture of the main thwart of the Thistle, also the mast step is visible as is my RU-90 Rithcie compass. If you look closely in the center, you will see the boat manufacturer's plate: D&M. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this Thistle is over 45 years old and has a lot of beautiful woodwork and hardware. Click here for a larger view of the above picture.

  Finally made it out for a sail Saturday, went sailing with my friend and his wife on their Hunter. Lots of sailboats on the lake enjoying the fresh breeze and mild temperatures. We started at Moors Resort, sailed over to Kentucky Lake Sails in Grand Rivers to pick up the skipper's wife. We had a good wind for most of the day, a nice shakedown after a long "Winter". It was great to be under sail once again, nice to flex my sea legs. Got quite a bit of sun, made the mistake of removing my hat during the wind gusts, feared losing my hat. Instead, I ended up with a bit of burn on my scalp where my hair is thinning. Sunday, I finally got the Thistle wet. Either lack of wind or too much wind had prevented me from launching on an earlier date. When I go sailing by myself, I pick my weather carefully, rarely going out in winds in excess of 10 mph, a true "fair weather sailor". Had a good sail, winds were light and slowly diminishing. Towards the end of the trip, I had to haul out the paddle and scull most of the way back to the marina. The Thistle is a fairly easy boat to paddle especially when the wind and current are absent. Think I will try to sneak out for another sail this evening. Winds are predicted to be light, the moon is waxing, good moonlight after dark, love to sail in the moonlight.