Developing an Addiction

Peter tried his hand at sunfish sailing today.

 It's a lot of work for the menfolk to load the boats in our van and drive them to the Wildlife Ramp in Oriental, and then unload them and ready them for the water. Peter quickly took off his shirt -- it was hot out there today!

 The three ladies came along to watch.

Julia, such a fashion statement!

She took her rowboat from Smith Creek, under the bridge and all the way to the town dock. Growing those muscles!

This was Peter's first time on a sunfish. Yesterday was his first time on a sailboat ever. He's such a natural, and he easily mastered the basic skills and wanted to get as much wind, as much speed, as much heeling, as he could.

Here's a short video of one of his passes down the creek. Ignore the 2nd half of the video, in which (in my excitement) I forgot my camera was on, and I videotaped the dock :)

Peter knew there was better wind out on the river rather than in the creeks, so he took the sunfish under the bridge and all the way to the town beach, just a 15 minute sail. He came racing into the sand, and I kicked off my shoes and grabbed the painter, yelling, "Pull up the center board!" He did a great job. As he passed Lou Mac Park, I snapped this picture of him from the end of the pier.

Atta boy! Just about the first thing he said when he came in from sunfishing in the morning was, "I'm definitely coming here next summer!" Yep, I think he's got the sailing bug.