Sailing into Marblehead

What a sailing day this was, with 25-30 knots off Boston Mass, as we headed from Scituate to Marblehead. The sky was so blue, the winds topped out at 33 knots true, and we all were sailing with reefed main sails and reefed jibs. This was a first on Island Spirit; we have a rope luff in the 135% jenny, but we have never used it. At 33 knots on the beam.....YOU NEED TO REEF! So reef we did, and we had the best sail of the trip so far.

Today was also the start of the Marblehead to Halifax yacht race, so we were timing our arrival to Marblehead around noon so we could see the large race boats heading out. There were 104 racing yachts moored in the harbor!

We picked up mooring balls in what turns out to be a very tight harbor. Luckily, we connected with IP420 Entropy, Martha and Bob Rose, who helped us secure balls from the Boston Yacht Club. After the races got under way, Entropy invited all of us over to their yacht for a lovely wine and cheese party. It was so nice of them after working all day on the race course and then coming in and hosting a party for 14+ people! THANK YOU! We also enjoyed meeting Drew of IP380 Shawnee. Friendly IPers in Marblehead and plenty of sunshine, too!

From here we plan to run to MAINE, at Kittery....

Island Packet 380 Memphis Belle in 27 knots reaching hard

Island Spirit under reefed jib and cruisin at 7.5 knots!

The Boston Yacht Club at Marblehead