So, we bought this beautiful sail last year. It’s called a Parasailor. It’s a downwind headsail meant for light winds. The set-up can be a bit confusing, and it has to be exactly right for it to work. We flew it for a few minutes during our training. Another time, our friends, Karl and Natalie, helped us hoist it. They flew theirs all the way across the Pacific Ocean, so we kind of figured they knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, we had no wind. We even tried motoring backwards to help fill it, but that didn’t work out so well.
On our way from Charlotte Harbor to Marquesas Keys, we had the perfect wind for it. We took our time, set it up slowly and carefully, hoisted it, and it worked! It even has our logo on it!!! As we pulled up the sock, the wind began to fill the sail. It opened just like one of those gorgeous flowers you see blooming during a time lapse.
She’s a beautiful sail. We were sailing with the wind 150 degrees off our starboard stern. We had 8 knots of wind and were sailing along at 6.8 knots. Can’t beat that.
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could fly this all day?”
“Oh, that would be fantastic. What a great sail!”
And then, it happened. The wind died. Boo. But it was great for an hour. Can’t wait to do it again!