I think little of sailing in and out of local harbors and anchorages - that I've gotten used to. There is a satisfaction in it for me. A chartplotter makes it doable when you're single handing. It frees your eyes up for looking at the rocks, depth sounder, currents, etc.

I'm certainly not used to the maze that is Seal Bay. But take it like they did: Light wind, one self tending jib (initially) and two self tending mains. As long as you kept steerage, this supplied a slow means of propulsion. The helmsmen needed to be thinking one tack ahead to hold his way.

I sometimes try this: roll in the genoa until it is easily tacked past the mast. You give up speed for control then.

And let's not forget, they ran their engine to raise the anchor. It's warm and ready to go.

I think these guys just have a lot of practice with the old school stuff. And their boat is quite adept (surprisingly to me) at this. They were likely enjoying a little showmanship - no drama, confident - as they sailed past a J120, a Sabre 38, a Beneteau something and our yawl.

We all motored out,...