Temps were in the mid 90s, but the stiff breeze provided a little relieve. Winds were 15-20 SSW which is ideal on Lake Pepin. Brian and Suzy, my crew for the day, showed up around 11 a.m. and we were off. Winds were a bit light at first but after a half hour or so they picked up and blasted us down the lake.

Before leaving the dock, I took extra care to make sure everything was stowed well. With the forecast winds, I new there was potential for this to be a boisterous sail. With no kids on board (Minna and the girls are in Finland), I was preparing to push the old girl and see how she would take it.

It was just plain awesome!

Suzy has a sister who is the captain of Adirondak in NYC. She has spent several summers there as crew and was somewhat familiar with sailing. Both her and Brian made great crew and we all had a blast with Soñadora burying her gun'ls in the water and flying along with a bone in her teeth. We heeled consistently over 20 degrees and at times made it well past 30. I've never driven her that hard before and she took it all in stride. I'm not a proponent of heeling like that on a typical sail. We could have done without the yankee, but it sure was great seeing how she handled all her sails up on a beam reach like that.