(George Day) – I was scheduled to take the brand new Tartan 395 out for a sail on the Tuesday after the Annapolis sailboat show in October. But, at 4 pm when we were to set sail, the wind died completely leaving Back Creek, The Severn River and the Chesapeake Bay as glassy as a mirror. Consulting with Tartan’s Michael Tamulaites, it was decided to abort the mission and reschedule for the next morning when the Windy app on my phone suggested we’d have six to eight knots of breeze. Not a gale, but enough to fill the sails.
We met up early and were the first customers at the fuel dock. The 395 is a very manageable size for two people. It maneuvers well under power and is light enough to manhandle around tight slips and docks. We topped up the fuel and as we did we were watching the flags around the creek and the tops of the tall pine trees for a sign of wind. It was there, so we revved up the 40-horse power diesel, which was turning a folding prop on the sail-drive, and slipped smoothly out into open water. Read More
