CUSTOMER REVIEWS

Tom was trying to have a special sailing day for his wife’s birthday with many friends. It just so happened that the forecast for winds that were directly out of the north 10 miles an hour more than forecast. I was extremely lucky to get off the dock where the wind @ current were pushing me broadside against it. I thought I was going to have to cancel the trip before we even got started. The minute we were off the dock and going through the first bridge. I advised all of them that were doing this again on me because they were bold enough to go out on a chilly 10:30 AM morning with winds directly from the north gusting over 30 mph. I advise them that we could not sail northbound towards Peanut Island from downtown West Palm Beach but we could get a part of the sail out on the way back.

I started back on the east side of Lake Worth (Palm Beach) and Tom‘s wife asked if we could get a sail out. I turned the boat around and went back to the north a bit and crossed over to the main channel and then put the mainsail out. Instead of flip-flopping back-and-forth every minute or so it was going back-and-forth every 15 seconds with the variable direction and gusts we were having.

It was so windy as it picked up it blew out the rest of the sail, overpowering 2 winches and a continuous loop line to the winch on the mast, forcing me to retrieve the sail on the deck.. (first time I had to do that in three years)

We could’ve never deployed the head sail or even attempted wing and wing due to the variable wind direction and such a narrow channel. Two boats that came in from the inlet furled in their head sail as soon as they cleared the inlet and turned down the Intracoastal. They each had enabled Body man at the Hellman a three-man crew on the sheets. ..

So I was extremely happy that I offered them a second ride on me when we had normal conditions of our typical 10 to 15 miles an hour trade winds coming off the beach every day.

My stewardess friend - Courtney helped out that day. Thought everyone had a phenomenal time and I will certainly enjoyed talking with George and Dottie and Kalvin from Great Britain. I thought there were a few sailors and that’s why they wanted to sail, but no one could take the helm which was overpowering the auto pilot with gusts to allow me to continue sailing like racers safely managing deployment of the sails given the conditions we were having. This is the quickest way to destroy a sail.

Regardless, I had to give them credit for trying and I did some thing I haven’t done in 3 years with the confidence of the boat I’ve enjoyed for 18 years, but the reality was the sails should’ve been kept in.. We got a taste of Sailing and we are making 3.8 kn on the Bimini and the solar panels when southbound.

I look forward to having them again, if indeed they want to do some real sailing offshore.

I even had the tender on the deck, ready to go offshore, but thought 4 to 6 seas are not too conducive for anyone aboard, including someone who advised before we started they were going to take some Dramamine thinking we were going to go offshore.

Next time we don’t have to worry about tripping over cushions or losing our hats or drinks or food, but having an enjoyable outing with weather conducive to sailing.

Sanho and her friends were great. I would definitely host them again.

Absolutely amazing hospitality. Everyone in my group had an incredible time and would 100% book this yacht for future events!

Caleb and his party observed the boat rules and followed captain/crew instructions, they had a lot fun on board and We would definitely love to have them on board again! Thank you Caleb!