Sailing in the Pacific Notrhwest

The San Juan Islands offer a great place to sail. Southeast winds prevail with Bellingham Bay offering the most and constant winds of the entire area. We had an afternoon sail on Tuesday with 8 knots of wind on the 38' Ericson. The sun was out and we had a lovely sail at four knots. Several weeks ago I went out with a class of first time students on our 32' Islander. It was the first dayof class. The wind indicator showed 18 knots in the harbor so the class learned to reef the main before we left the dock. It was a good thing to do as we had 25 knots sustained and 30 knot gusts. The boat can always handle it but the crew aboard may not. We also reefed the head sail so we had a great sail at 6-7 knots with a 20 degree heel.