The weather tough on our first sail of the spring this year. Ralph Rodriguez joined us again, as he often does. He seems to enjoy the brisk weather. I felt a little sick as we came out in the race, so we ended up rounding Fisher's Island to return to Dodson's Boatyard. Although it was unfortunate at the moment it happened, we probably were lucky to discover a problem without any more serious consequences. As we came toward Dodson's, it was necessary to jibe in fairly heavy winds - around 30 knots. I failed to completely harden the main sheet before the jibe, and the shock yanked off one end of the traveller. Luckily, the we were able to lower the sail before the boom became totally detached. We motored back to Dodson's where temporary repairs were made while we spent the first night back in Stonington.  We were able to continue our trip the next day, making our usual stay at Block Island for an early spring dinner at the Mohegan Cafe. 

We also stopped in Newport, RI, where we went to a restaurant (Asterisk?), where we saw some old style jazz musicians again for about the third time. This time I got some video, referenced below. Through sheer coincidence we happen to have shown up once a year when they were playing. They don't play regularly, so it was, in retrospect very unusual that we managed to see them several times. Since we had enjoyed them a number of times in the past, this time we went up and spoke to the players, who seemed to enjoy our enthusiastic appreciation.

More photos and some video are available on the photo album and video site.