hi all - i hope everyone is having a great summer so far. I wanted to share something...We had a large windless on the bow of the boat that we never used..and I found it to be a bit of an eyesore. I actually enjoy pulling the anchor...

either way, I removed the windless and was shocked how heavy it was. This thing must have weighed 80-100 lbs....I am floored at how many holes this has left in the deck (which are all plugged with epoxy though needs to be sanded and painted - good news, deck is probably 2x as strong as it absorbed a healthy amount of epoxy and is rock hard now). I also removed the two cleats and replaced with a large cleat where the windless was located.

The GREAT news is we have picked up another knot since removing the windless. I am shocked at the difference. I did not expect much of a change...figuring perhaps a very slight pick up in speed. By just removing roughly 80 to 100 lbs from the bow there is a noticeable difference and we are now easily cruising at 6.5knots. When the wind picks up to around 15-18knots we are moving along at 7.1 - 7.5 knots!

Lesson learned, when racing really do send the skinny guy/girl to the bow and get rid of anything that is weighing the boat down.

I plan to go through the boat with a fine tooth comb and remove anything that we do not use regularly.

Lastly, we are now on the Chesapeake Bay sailing out of the Magothy River. Would love to meet up with anyone in the area.