Keel Boat Sailing

My parents own a 40.5 (don’t forget the 0.5 ft!) Hunter sailing vessel, which I regularly sail as well. Larger boat, more lines and controls but sailing stays sailing after all. We first must navigate Clear Lake Channel, going under the bridge onto Galveston Bay. This time it was a bit more difficult because we had to pick up my sister, tow her to Galveston Bay and follow her while she did her training on the water. As a member of the US National Sailing team my sister needs to train often either by herself or with the Lakewood Yacht Club sailing team. This time we had 20kn sustained winds with gusts to 25kn, so we put one reef into the sail to make everything a bit more manageable. We had a lot of fun following my sister and trying to beat her (sometimes we succeeded). It is hard work but sailing at 8 knots speed, with large waves and a lot of sun, it does not get much better than that. After a couple of hours on the water we headed back through the channel, docked the boat and got to cleaning. Washing off our boats is especially important in salty conditions such as Galveston Bay. Afterwards, we picked up my sister and headed back home to take a nice hot shower.