Beautiful sailing day here in San Diego: low 70s, sunny, very nice wind, 12-15 mph steady, with stronger gusts here and there.
I rarely see Montgomerys out on the water here in San Diego; today, there were two M-17s out. Big swells, heading out of Mission Bay channel to sea: 4-6 feet, with confused waves near the breakwaters. I had to hold on as Bella was tossed up and down, left and right. Lots of boats heading in and out (the wind was too much for some), with the holiday weekend here. Back in Mission Bay, with the steady, strong wind, I clocked the fastest times I've ever seen with Bella: per my handheld Magellan GPS, mounted on the bridgedeck, I touched 5.9 mph on flat water, and saw 6.2 mph on a very modest swell. I had nice stretches where the GPS ran between 5.4-5.7 mph. With my son at a baseball game with a school friend, and my wife home helping our daughter study for finals next week, I was singlehanding. To make it easier to trim the jib sheets, I cross sheeted the jib sheets: one jib sheet ran from the jib clew through a single block (spring-mounted upright) on my port handrail, to a swiveling cam cleat on the starboard side; with this, I can trim the jib from windward, with the wind coming over the starboard side of the boat. The other jib sheet ran from the jib clew through an upright block on my starboard handrail, to a swiveling cam cleat on the port side; with this, I can trim the jib from windward, with the wind coming over the port side of the boat. Trimming the jib was very easy with this arrangement. Great sailing day, great boat! Sincerely, John Bella (M-15, 628) La Jolla, CA _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
