It was a chilly, but sunny, sail down the ICW yesterday, covering just over 20 nautical miles. The wind was basically cooperative with a downwind sail, although the shifts through the trees kept Jeff busy moving the sails back and forth.

We were able to spend a substantial amount of time sailing wing and wing, and the motor vessels that passed us were VERY considerate, giving us slow passes as Infinity explained the situation on the VHF (which is not always the case.)

Jeff and I call sailing in rivers and creeks, “fancy sailing.” It’s not something we can do often, but it’s a lot of fun when it works out.

We had to call it a day about 20 minutes away from our anchorage when the wind died and the current was against us. Infinity had been patiently staying behind us for the duration so he motored up, we threw him a line, and he towed us the rest of the way.

Honestly, we were a little bummed because we were hoping to make it the whole way, but all in all it was a successful sail and a fun day. Dropping the anchor in one of our favorite anchorages (Graham Creek) was a nice reward for the day.

We had Infinity over for a dinner that was appropriate for the chill: warm tomato soup and Mexican grilled cheese sandwiches (otherwise known as quesadillas – we only have tortillas on board, not bread.). A good night sleep followed, and now we’re ready to keep sailing to our next anchorage. The adventure continues!

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a lay day due to the strong winds. We stayed well-protected in the anchorage, I made brownies, and we had a marathon session of Mexican Train Dominoes with Infinity going from double twelves down to double blanks. Infinity won.

It was our coldest day and night of the trip with a high only in the mid-50’s and a low of 39, so we took advantage of our Honda generator and our portable heater to warm up the boat.

We were hoping to run the heater all evening (it’s only us and Infinity in the anchorage), but the exhaust from the generator was getting trapped somewhat by the weather cloths surrounding our cockpit. The wind was on our beam (the current overpowers the wind around here so your bow points into it instead of the wind), but the exhaust wasn’t getting carried away as much as we had thought it would. Next time we’ll open up the dodger window to aid in circulation and shut the generator off right before we go to bed.

Regardless, when we went to bed the boat was warmer than it would have been, and it was a snug night tucked in amongst all of our blankets and sleeping bags.

Today we’ll shove off around 11:00 to continue sailing down the ICW. We’ll have the current with us for most of the afternoon, so if Infinity has to tow us we should barely make a difference. Hopefully we’ll end up in Graham Creek tonight, which is one of our favorites.