My friend Brian, Dad, and I went out on Texoma today on Vampyrita as part of a revitalized “Buddy Sail” program. The Buddy Sail program was started by Jay at Texas Charters. The idea was that Jay would send out a note at the start of the week saying which boat was going to be taken out that coming weekend, and whomever wanted to show up could go sailing for $50 which paid for part of the day’s charter fee.

Jay closed down and moved to Key West to run a charter on a beautiful boat called the Freedom Won. But his old pal Greg is keeping the Buddy Sail tradition alive. Greg bought Jay’s Ranger 23, Vampyrita, and today we took her on the first voyage of the newly-revitalized Buddy Sail program.

The day threatened to be stormy but it was actually picture perfect. Dense cloud cover for most of the day kept the temperature down and the winds averaged about 15 knots but died down substantially around 2:00. We had a light shower every now-and-then but nothing terrible–we all agreed the sprinkles were refreshing and of course had the added benefit of bringing with it that sweet, after-rain smell.

If you are in the North Texas area and you are looking to spend an afternoon sailing but you don’t have a boat, check out Greg’s Buddy Sail Yahoo Group. I’ve been on several now and I’ve found them to be a fun, friendly, and cheap way to enjoy sailing.