Sailing Irish Rover, February 3, 5, 6, 2019

February 3rd Karen invited her friends, Mary, Christa, Lea, and Lea's sister for a sail, so I found myself surrounded by FIVE lovely ladies!

Mary and Christa bundled for the cool breeze

Karen and Lea enjoying the conversation

The day was a bit cloudy and cool, but the light breeze was sufficient to carry Irish Rover and her beautiful crew back and forth across the Indian River as we sailed north to a point within a quarter mile of the railroad bridge connecting Merritt Island to the mainland.

At one point we sighted dolphins but the crafty creatures avoided the cameras we aimed their way.  After a couple hours, we reached south down the River and returned Irish Rover to her berth in the marina.

Our Tuesday sail with the drifter

It was a week of good weather so on Tuesday Karen and I were back aboard Irish Rover.  With temps in the low 70sF and sunny, it was very comfortable aboard Irish Rover.  As the wind was very light, 3 - 5 knots, we quickly furled the jib and bent on the drifter.  The red, white and blue half ounce nylon sail captured enough breeze to push Irish Rover a full knot faster, increasing our speed from 1.5 to 2.5 knots.  As the afternoon wore on the breeze continued to improve to the point where Irish Rover was sailing faster than 4 knots!  Not bad for a day with winds sticking in the single digits.

Karen between tacks

We tacked upwind as we figured out how to get the most from the drifter, although I'm not convinced we've got it nailed.  As we neared the railroad bridge we gybed southbound, sailing wing & wing on port tack until we risked running aground on the shoal.  We shifted onto a port reach back across the river then gybed to starboard wing & wing before settling onto a starboard reach for the return to the marina.  A great day of light air sailing!

Irish Rover running port wing & wing

Wednesday was more of the same except experienced sailing friends, Lynn and Linda, joined us for a couple hours sailing the wispy breaths across the Indian River.  This time we trotted out the drifter right away as Lynn and Linda helped with raising and  trimming the sails.

Sailing north of the RR bridge with Lynn and Linda

The breeze was very fluky and variable at first so even though we didn't change our trim, we found ourselves changing direction from northwest to north-northeast then west, then north, finally northwest again.  This sailing took us towards a three foot shoal, so we gybed onto a starboard reach for a steady sail southwards.  Reaching shoal waters again (easy to do in the Indian River!) we tacked around to a port close haul, heading northeast towards the railroad bridge.

This time we tacked onto starboard, remaining close hauled then pinched her tightly so we could slip through the opening in the bridge and explore the headwaters of the Indian River.  This was the first time Irish Rover had ever been north of the RR bridge.  Karen and I had been through here following the ICW aboard Kelly IV, but never on Irish Rover.

Linda and Lynn

Just a few minutes' sail north of the bridge we realized we were an hour from the marina, so we should begin our return.  We tacked and fell off until Irish Rover was sailing a port broad reach and we kept that trim until it was time to drop our sails.

After two weeks without sailing, it was great to get three days on the water.

Port broad reach