Moon Shadow departed Fairhaven at 8:30 am on Saturday August 6th bound for Sodus Bay. The weather was overcast with winds 10 to 15 knots from the South. We steered approximately 290. Under a full main and with the genoa furled at about 75% we rounded the Fairhaven West pierhead light at about 9:00am.
She immediately cruised up to about 5 knots and settled in with about a 10 degree heel. It was a little gusty and before we knew it we running consistently between 6.5 and 7 knots with a little over a 20 degree heel. Seas were pretty much non-existent with the southerly, the southeasterly winds driving us nicely past Blind Sodus Bay, Port Bay, and then on past Chimney Bluffs.
A little past 11:00am we rounded the East breakwall at Sodus Bay. Furled the genoa, doused the main and fired up the Universal. Under power we cruised into the Bay. There were several other vessels under sail outbound as well as a few fishing rigs heading in both directions. We made our way for Katlynn Marine on the south side of the strip where we checked in at the ships store.
Katlynn Marine graciously allowed us to tie up on their wall for a couple of hours "no charge". They have a full service Marina facility with everything you could need. In addition their marine store carry's a full line of hardware and cleaning supplies along with all the usual things you would expect. We walked the two short blocks into town and found Capt'n Jacks Restaurant (recommended by Katlynn Marine) for lunch. We dined on the deck which happens to be on the roof, overlooking the bay. A very nice view, with a pleasurable lunch.
Unfortunately throughout lunch the dark clouds had been building to the south so we didn't spend anytime mogging the village itself. Instead we headed back for the boat. It started to sprinkle just as we arrived back on board, and after some jockying we got her off the west facing dock the wind had been setting us against and headed back out into the bay. As we rounded the actual point we hauled up the main and unfurled the genoa and headed north for the Sodus Bay Lighthouse. We passed several other boats under sail heading for their berthings as it began to rain a bit harder.
At 2:30pm we rounded the East pierhead and set a course of 090 degrees back for Fairhaven. Again Moon Shadow cruised up to about 5 knots and by the time we had Chimney Bluffs off of our starboard beam we were cruising at 6 to 7 knots. That's also about the time the skies opened up! We donned the foul weather jackets battened down all the hatches and settled in for the easterly run back to "the bay". The Catalina handled beautifully all the way back, although we had to keep a constant hand on the genoa sheets to keep the ride comfortable for the crew members that were down in the cabin out of the weather. Fortunately the rain was warm and the temp remained in the upper seventies making it an enjoyable run inspite of the wind whipping the rain across the decks.
We sighted the East break wall at Fairhaven about 4:00pm the rain had subsided to more of a heavy misting and the wind held steady. At 4:30 we dropped the main, furled the "genny" and rigged fenders. We tied up back at Fairpoint Marina at 5:15pm. All in all a wet, but beautiful day of sailing!
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