I have the sunburn to prove it! Unfortunately I left my camera in the truck. Saturday was another howling, small craft warning, rain in the afternoon kind of day. I went down to the boat early, was bored, so I practiced docking in cross winds. That was very helpful and should have provided entertainment for the other dozen or so people huddles by the pool trying to keep warm. Sunday was spectacular, we headed out to the lake in about 5-10 knots of wind and discovered just how well an IP does in light air..........turns out that light air is really not one of the strong points of this boat. I had a very disappointed admiral as every single boat on the water passed us. The admiral starting doing some very odd things like sitting on the leeward rail. "Why are you doing that?" I asked. "I'm helping" was the response, following explanation was that she was helping by trying to make the boat heel which she believed would make us go faster. I explained that people pay ridiculous amounts of money for Island Packets because they don't heel! As the day progressed the wind kicked up and the little IP did OK. We held our own with a Cape Dory 30, a J22 and what looked like an older C&C although the C&C pretty much showed everyone her transom.

One thing that I can't figure out is what to do with the boom? When the main is furled and we are motoring I have to hold he wheel with one hand and hang onto the boom with the other or it cracks back and forth. Never had to deal with a mid-boom sheeted boat doing that in the past. We put a couple of wraps of the mainsheet on the winch to draw it down as tight as possible, not much effect. Other than tying the end of the boom to the side cleats, any thoughts?