Pre Tropical Storm Sail

[magic Mike]

The previous night (Sat. 11/7) the winds for Sunday were posted as 8 to 10 knots NE. So my son and son in-law made plans for a early morning sail on Mobile Bay to watch the sunrise and enjoy a comfortable sailing day. Boy were we surprised. We met at the slip where I keep "Deja Blue" my 20' Horizon Cat". The winds were 15 to 20 knots out of the east. We decided to go anyway as it would not be the first time we had sailed on Mobile Bay with similar wind conditions. However it was the first time I had sailed my Cat boat in these conditons. When we entered the bay the waves were 2 to 3 ft. I had heard that the Horizon cat would need to be reefed in these conditions. We were close hauled and I can tell you the boat handled quite well. Needless to say we had a fast sail out into the bay and a very fast downwind sail home. I am very pleased with the way the Horizon cat handled the wind and the seas. Today I took "Deja Blue" out of the water and parked her saftly in my driveway as we are now in the middle of tropical storm "IDA" (We have never had a tropical storm in Nov.) It very reasuring to be able to get my boat out the slip and out of harms way. Trailer sailing is the way to go.