Sailing School

Dateline, Lake St. Clair (June 5-7, 2010).  Carol at the helm of the Windependent, a 30' Catalina, our sailing-school boat.  Our two classmates are in the forground, with Captain Dave (back left) and Captain Tim (back right), both of the Fair Wind Sailing School.  A great experience, three days on the water with at-dock studies and tests.  We passed both courses, Learn to Sail and Basic Coastal Cruising, both courses sponsored by the American Sailing Association.  We learned a lot and the hands-on experience gave the book learning a dose of reality.  
Friday (7/16), I spent some time at the boat making sure we had good dock lines.  She is floating free and barely using the bilge pump.  No mast or rigging yet; that's going a bit slow and worrisome for an on-time get-away for the journey.  Hopefully, we'll get good news starting tomorrow.  Anyway, she is remarkably stable given her low ballast.  Sweet!   I wish I could get a picture of her completely side-on to see her in-water profile, but that will come in time.  
Also Friday I bought navigation charts for Lakes St. Clair and Huron.  We've started planning our trip, which has been exciting!