Gypsy's Maiden Voyage

I took my new sailboat out for her first voyage today. It was a beautiful day in Santa Barbara with light air - the perfect day for Gypsy's first sail. It was a bit of an adventure, but I guess that's what sailing is all about. My friend Gustavo, who is a Brazilian I met at the Hostel, and friend of his named Dom came along. There were 3 of us. We towed the boat over with Dom's truck which was interesting because his ball hitch was too big for the trailer, so the trailer was just sort of perched on the hitch. Fortunately it stayed put. We managed to launch the boat without event and only had one scary moment when we almost ran into the spinning propeller of a very large inflatable harbor patrol vessel that was parked on the dock. fortunately we were able to push off of it with the whisker pole and use the paddle to get away. Then we caught the wind and were on our way. We had an educational experience that lasted for fifteen minutes or so when we pointed the boat into the wind, stopped, and debated amongst ourselves the best way to get going again. This we still haven't figured out, save to say that it's best to not leave the boat pointed into the wind in the first place. Maybe my friend John can explain it to me... We did make a long series of tacks coming back into the harbor which was a lot of fun. Initially we started out just using the mainsail, but then decided to put up the jib after an hour or so. Once we put up the jib things got quite a bit faster. It was around that time that Gustavo suggested naming the boat Gypsy. I liked the name and it stuck. Once I got back to the Hostel, I put the name on the transom with electrical tape. After returning to the launch ramp and pulling Gypsy out of the water, the three of us walked over to Stearns Wharf and drank a couple of bottles of Champagne to celebrate the beginning of this next adventure.