Day 6 Last Full Sailing Day!

Good morning Hillsboro!

Good morning Bill!  Bill has a bow birth but prefers to sleep outside under the Bimini.  Jen is up early everyday and has coffee ready by 6 which is when I usually fall out of my berth. Then Steve shows up with his Diet Coke. Shortly after Bill starts moving and sometime later Mr. Sunshine makes his appearance. 

After finishing my coffee and my morning paperwork I delicately manage the brown bag tuck and fold maneuver discussed in a previous post. 

And there is Mr. Sunshine doing a little bit of cramming for our final written exam later this morning. 

Part of our lesson today was learning a very cool new knot called the Truckers Hitch. It’s sort of a modified bowling knot perfect for cinching down something like a dinghy or in this case our seat cushions. 

The ASA allows up to 4 hours to finish our final 103 exam. We are are hard at work by 10 AM. 

While we were heating up our brain cells on the test, Jenni from the Dock was cooking up a bacon, scrambled eggs, and fried potatoes breakfast. After 2 hours of testing we enjoy our best breakfast of the week!

Dave takes us off of our anchor a little after noon and discusses his exit strategy out of the bay with Jen. 

Bill hoists the anchor with our electric windlass while I give visual signals to Dave in keeping the anchor slack and the boat in the beat direction. 

Steve is an experienced captain so he’s been doing less and less as the less experienced sailors take on more and more captain responsibilities each day.  It’s not easy for Steve to not be the captain. Arms folded and quiet is not a natural state for him but he was always very supportive in our progress. 

Smiling Dave at the helm on our 20 mile afternoon sail back towards St. George’s. 

Steve takes a turn at the helm. 

We had some rough seas for a while and we were better able to handle the helm on the large swells than the autopilot was!!  Not bad for new sailors. 

Sailing now under calmer weather later in the day Steve tries to slowly sneak the helm away from me. 

Apparently Dramamine can make you drowsy. At least that’s what Bill told us after he woke up from his 30 minutes afternoon nap.  Please note that even while asleep he’s ready in a blink of an eye to tighten our mainsail halyard winch if necessary with his left hand. 

We were moored by 5:30 and shortly after Grace’s boat with Gui and Fabi came to join us.  You can see Gui and Grace on the bow preparing to catch their morning ball while Fabi controls the boat’s approach from the stern. 

Unfortunately on their first pass they successfully secured the ball but the boat got it’s keel tied up in the morning balls anchoring line, causing the ball to go under their hull. Eventually they were able to drive off after cutting their own mooring line. Jen volunteered to assist them from our dinghy. She drove our dinghy into the mooring ball while I held up the mooring tether for Gui to grab and thread another line through.  Success was soon achieved. 

It was student night to make dinner. The Pirates chose a hearty salad, spaghetti with Italian sausage red sauce and grilled French bread. It wasn't anywhere as delicious as any of Jenni’s meals but it came from our hearts in gratude for a wonderful week learning to sail and having a whole lot of fun.