So, today was supposed to be a bit of a sad day.  Being of fastidious disposition about our new baby I really wanted to get the new bottom on her and to fix up a few under water issues like getting the zincs replaced. And so this meant laying up at the local boat yard for a week or more while they attended to the details.

Of course, our favorite local yard was contacted, an appointment was made a month in advance (before we even had the deal closed) and everything was set for me to bring Pasargada over today, Sunday the 9th. So, with some trepidation we set off to bring her through the locks and leave her at the boat yard for the work.

Knowing how things go at our favorite local boatyard though, I had enough foresight to stop in before bringing the boat to see if their marina actually had any room for us to bring the boat in. And…lo-and-behold, guess what, there was no space. One rather messed up spot could have fit her 36 feet, but it would have meant being beam-to-bow of a rather large, expensive looking race boat, not to mention angling the boat into this awkward spot.

So anyway, this meant no boat work for today.  A real bummer. But…

It was in the mid 50s, sunny, not a drop of rain and windy so, yes, it was time to go sailing. With our friend in tow Rachel and I took out Pasargada for her maiden voyage under sail.  What a fantastic day. I’ve rarely been happier about a boat yard snafu, but this one was perfect.

We had winds from 8 to 18 knots, sunny and flat seas.  You couldn’t ask for a more fantastic first sail.  She really sails well to weather, tracking smoothly without a lot of fighting from the rudder. In other words, we found her to be very balanced under main and jib.

I can’t wait to take her sailing again.  Now the real question is when will be the first time we put up the spinnaker… and I guess, there’s still that boat work to be done.