The local marina planned a Movie on the Water tonight, with a showing of the water terror flick 47 Meters Down, about tourists who get caught in a shark cage. Hundreds planned to float on tubes in the marina while watching the movie projected on a large screen.
My daughter brought a couple of friends over from college to sail for the evening, and the wind forecast looked to be a bit on the breezy side, reaching 25mph at some points.
We sailed out of the marina in about 20mph (of wind, not boat speed.) Kate taught her friends to tack, and we had everyone wear pfds tonight just in case things got exciting.
And exciting they got. We were making about 7 knots, and before we knew it we were a couple miles out onto the lake. The wind picked up at this point, into the upper 20s. We reefed the main, and then watched as the wind continued to climb past 30. We were making great speed, but decided to drop the mail and partially furl the jib. The boat steadied out under this sail plan, with a modest 5-10 degrees of heel and doing well over 7 knots as we flew along in 28-35 mph winds.
The girls sat on the bow and much to their delight, the waves frequently joined them, soaking them as the spray splashed wildly over the deck. As the sun neared the horizon, we decided to head for the barn. We furled the last sliver of jib and sailed into the harbor to find the shores filled with several hundred movie spectators.
The food trucks were out, and it was fun to walk through the crowds and enjoy the excitement in the crowd. I ran into the marina owner, who inquired about the wind conditions. I showed him the forecast, which unfortunately had strong winds running until about 1am. They ultimately ended up postponing the movie, because the spectators’ tubes would have been blown across the harbor by the winds. But it was still a great night, and clearly everyone enjoyed hanging out on the beach and watching the sunset.
