I finally made away from the dock and cut the virtual umbilical cord. My first small passage was from Jolly harbor to the anchorage at Nevis, a trip that took from 11a.m. to 17:30 in mild winds and some uncomfortable swells from almost directly aft. I used only the mainsail and tied that down with a preventer to keep the boom from snapping back and forth with the swell. An hour into the trip I realized that my speed was slow enough so that I would get to the anchorage after dark. Although this anchorage is open and the mooring balls easy to see, I wanted to avoid all those fishing trap peppered around the island so opted to motor sail and set the Gori propeller to "cruising mode" and with 1800rpm I was averaging around 7.5Knots and that was just right for a sunset arrival.
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