After a fairly dispiriting few weeks involving stomach flu and (apparently) the fiercest storm in 2 years to hit the Bay Area we were finally able to get out and test the windvane. Doubts had been bouncing around in my head about it while we were stuck inside: was it actually level? did we install it correctly? and most importantly, was the vane going to be able to handle Pisces' sometimes feisty weather helm?

However the first day of testing was positive; we played around in 10kts setting the vane on different points of sail and found that it worked surprisingly well! Now I'm itching for summer conditions to test it in some normal breeze. However that will have to wait another few months, nothing I can do about that!

Now that the windvane is on and mostly functioning (we jury rigged the lines to the tiller while we figure out the best place for the blocks), we are a huge step closer to leaving. Sure there are still things to do; and the boat show in April will be an expensive one; but the boat is solid, capable, and now with the vane on has reliable self steering. These next few months are just waiting for the right season to leave and getting done what we can until it's time to go.