Lori and Paul’s daughter and her fiancé were visiting, so we planned to meet up at Tahiti Beach. We had a stunning sail over from Mermaid Reef – single reefed main, double reefed jib, rocketing along at 6.5kts over ground. It was the kind of sailing where it’s just a joy to be at the helm, but I feel like I always get to take advantage of those days, so I let Chris take her and he was in his element. Somewhere along the line, we figured out that it’s way easier if I take the helm through the tacks and let Chris trim the sails (I do believe that discovery was made on the heels of one too many Grabbers), and I admit it was hard to give her back.
When we got to Tahiti Beach, there were what felt like a million boats there – we’d gotten so used to everything being quiet, and this was far from that. But with so many people there, it was one heck of a party. The tide was out, the Thirsty Cuda was in, and we grabbed a cuda punch, fish bites and conch bites and plunked ourselves down in the shallow, crystal-clear water.
Katie and Phil stopped by (they were anchored out off Tilloo), and a couple other sailors we’d met when we saw Jib Sea Soul were there too, and it felt like a summer afternoon did when I was a kid hanging out at the beach with friends (but with more alcohol).
