Saturday, November 3, 2012

Winterizing the boats

It's that time of year that the boats do a lot more sitting than sailing, and we flip the boats over to keep them relatively clean. We had a small crew, but we were able to quickly take down the masts and get everything stowed for the winter.
Taking down the masts

Stowing the masts behind the boat shed takes some muscle.

Masts are secured so that they are unaffected by the winds.

Joe and Troy always have a smile and a smart comment for the camera.

New trick is to use the A-Frame to drain excess water from the hull.

Three turtles on the dock.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Wet and Cold. Mostly wet.


When it comes to bad weather, I feel you have two choices. One, you wus out, bag it and hope that the weather stays crappy so you don't regret staying home. Two, you go anyways and for better or worse try to have a nice time. Well, this year it seems that betting on the weather getting nicer has been the safer bet, so I often choose option two. Today we did not fair as well as I had hoped. No sun breaks, the rain did not lighten much and the wind remained cold. Luckily we had Andrzej's American 27 as backup. I happened to be taking a friend out for a first time sailing experience, so it is nice to tie up our dinghy to the big boat and still have a sailing experience. Andrzej, Troy, Ethan and I didn't like the rain much, but at least we could enjoy the company.

After working our way north for a bit, we came up with the great idea to motor sail under the Agate's pass bridge and see what is on the other side. Having never really left the sight of Brownsville under sail, I thought this would be a novel voyage. If anything, I could at least check it off my bucket list.

Much to everyone's relief, the mast cleared the bridge.

If we had checked the tide charts, we might have had second thoughts about going through Agate's Pass that day. Our impeccable timing had us fighting the tide in both directions. Luckily we weren't in much of a hurry and there were some good stories to be told and dreams of sailing in Hawaii to be dreamt.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Race Day #9

I was having a hard time predicting what was in store for us today. The weather last week was a regular heat wave, while the day leading up to the race was overcast. Once we were rigged and out on the water, we had some great wind for racing.
With six attending, we had three boats out there, each with a single crew. This is usually my favorite sailing because it is much more social than single handing. The dynamic between the two sailors is key to making your boat go fast, so it keeps things interesting the entire time.
Halfway through the first race the wind appeared to die, then switch 180, then shift another 90 degrees back. Eventually we just couldn't keep track anymore. This is how it was most of the day. At times you could even be flying past another boat only 40 feet away on a totally different tack. Some of the best tactics I found was to be ready for anything, even if it meant drifting for a bit.
Sometime during the second or third race the sun came out, catching a few of us unaware. We'll be a little red tomorrow. I don't think anyone minds though.
Dave "Jibemeister" Miller playing it cool while in the lead
I brought my friend Anna for her first sailing experience. She may be our newest member soon ;)


Troy and Joe

Sandy and Dave
Sandy and Anna show us their "Girl Power" by hauling in two of the club's race marks (FYI they are heavy anchors)


When we run out of flyers on the boatshed, I think that is a good thing!!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Be careful what you pray for!

Wind, wind, and more wind. It was almost more than we could handle today. Again we had a day of single-handed sailing, intensified by some strong wind. Troy got the course set up while Sandy, and I rigged up three boats for us to single-hand. Luckily Chris showed up so we could keep one person dedicated to Race Committee for safety reasons.

I let Sandy, Troy, and Chris take the boats out while I set the Race Committee boat in place. By the time I had my anchor set, they were already right behind me. I could tell for me this would be some intense racing punctuated with moments of sheer terror.

I got them started quickly because I could tell that they would rather be racing than waiting. They were off like a shot, hiked out to the max at times, pushing their boats to the limits. Sandy ended up finding her shoulder's limit before the boat maxed out. She was still in the race, but nursing a bum shoulder meant being a lot less aggressive.

Troy and Chris duked it out around the triangle course and were very close when coming around the leeward mark, heading toward the windward mark.

Shortly after this Chris looked back at Troy and smiled. Not the friendly smile we've all become accustomed to these past three race days, but a menacing smile. Troy was blinded by Chris's beautiful pearly choppers and when he looked away it caused him to tack. Chris was able to put some distance between himself and Troy before rounding the last two marks and finishing first.

After the first race between Chris, Troy and Sandy was over, it was my turn to hop into good ol' #3. It took a bit to acclimate to the wind, but I was able to safely tack back and forth near the line. However, once the race started, I had a really hard time getting the nerve to hike out an really let the sails power up. In the meantime Troy had put half a leg between us. Luckily Chris gave me some encouragement while I was still in earshot. He believed in me! Better yet, I realized that I was so close to the safety boat, that if I was going to capsize, this was the ideal location. I gritted my teeth, locked in the main sheet, and clenched so hard onto the jib sheet and tiller extension that they would have no choice to obey me instead of the wind.

I was really getting into the feel of it. The waves had a rhythm that seemed to sooth me during my downwind leg. I came around the leeward mark and was mentally preparing for the last two legs before the finish. Then I saw Troy round the windward mark and come straight at me. I was unable to read his face. Was this a new scare tactic? I yelled "Starboard" to remind him that I knew the rules and wasn't going to play his game. Then he showed me his tiller extension... unattached to his tiller. He said that there were some other issues and the boat was no longer safe. That was the end of that. I must admit, I was somewhat relieved.

After some boat swapping, we limped our boats and ourselves back to the dock. It was the shortest, most intense1-3/4 race I can recall. Back at the dock we exchanged some sailing stories of the past, recounting the times we narrowly escaped certain death at the hands of mother nature. I realized that we are all a little bit crazy for loving this sport so much, but the camaraderie that comes with these experiences are priceless.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Just about perfect

It was such an amazing day to sail today. I was apprehensive about going out on the water just a day after some crazy summer thunder storms, but it turned out to be unfounded. We had beautiful weather and good wind coming from the south. Joe, Dave and I rigged up the new boat and hull #3 while we waited for Andrzej to show up with his brother Jerzej (spelling?) with the safety boat. Once we got out on the water I handed the tiller to Joe and did some rig tuning. As I was tensioning and adjusting the boom, I noticed the mast had a nice curve to it. Is this normal?

The wind was a bit fitful at times, but we made decent time getting to the crowded Illahee pier. A few fishermen reluctantly made some room for our moorage.


We found a nice shaded table with a peekaboo view of our proud little boats. We wanted to keep a close eye on them because we weren't going to take any chances with our new boat getting stolen again, haha.

After Andrzej cheerfully forced some polish sausage and cheese on us, we were back on our way home. After dodging the landmine-like scattering of crabpots near the pier, it was clear down wind sailing. We caught the 180 wind shift just as we rounded the bend toward the marina. I may have gotten a  little more sun than expected, but that's not a bad thing.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Second Chance

We have four masts standing tall once again!

It was an arduous journey for our new boat to get to where she is today. Sold to us from a former club member, she was stolen from the barn she was being stored in just before we were ready to purchase her. Luckily she was recovered by the police, then Troy quickly swooped in and brought her to his house for safe keeping. She needed only some minor repairs and tender love from Troy before she was ready to replace hull #2. We have already started calling her "Second Chance" in reference to interesting back story.



Thanks Troy for making the repairs and thanks Sandy for helping us get the new hull into place and unloading hull #2 at casa de Troy for hopefully minor repairs. Troy has been putting in some hard work and many hours for us on these boats. Here is a sneak peak of the red boat he is working on that is sure to be a screamer once he is done.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

I am tired, borderline exhausted after today's races, holy cow! Troy is quoted as calling today "Almost Epic" and I would have to agree. Today started out with great sun, but some very mild wind. Troy quickly set up the race course as Sandy, Chris and I rigged up our three sailboats. As I was on my way out to the course I was a little worried about how the racing was going to go. My tell-tale was accurately telling me that there was no wind and I was about to go nowhere in a hurry.
Thankfully Troy showed up and grabbed my bowline to get me into the wind. Yes, there was some wind out there, I just found the black hole apparently. Sandy and Chris were close behind and Troy got us started.

Here is a little sequence of photos showing the finish of the third race. Chris and Sandy were very close after the last tack, but Chris held his lead, waving for the camera just before the finish.






The wind really filled in for the last four races, adding a little more excitement to the single-hand racing. It wasn't quite as white knuckle as Race #3 in the spring series, but it sure got us around the race course a lot faster. I personally had a few issues with losing track of the main sheet while tacking, then getting stuck hiked out without a line in my hand. Normally I'd do something to remedy this, but when you have good position in a race your logic changes. My race logic dictated that I lean harder, hang on and get across that finish line!

All three of us were able to race five times each, totaling 7 races today! That is the most races I've ever done  in one day in my entire sailing career. That's only about two years, for anyone taking notes.

I'd love to go into more detail about all the races, but there is too much to talk about. For once the wind direction held the entire day, but there was definitely a noticeable outgoing (southward) current for the lighter wind races that had a drastic effect when trying to reach the windward mark or cross the finish line. The change in wind speed also seemed to change our tactics throughout the day. But most notable I would say were the starts. Nearly every start today was close and well timed. I think because we were running a short triangle course (windward, wing, leeward, finish) the start had a dramatic effect on final position. There were some great tactical maneuvers that were planned and executed before the race even started.

So we had a great day in the sun and wind, but just remember, it isn't all fun and games out there. As Race Committee, we take our job seriously. No joking around.

Summer Series Summary
Skipper
Best 5
Rank
Jake Parks
5
1
Troy Hunter
7
3
Sandy Bochonok
12
4
Chris Quinn
6
2


Race Day #6 Summary
Skipper
Points
Avg
Rank
Jake Parks
8
1.60
1
Troy Hunter
10
2.00
3
Sandy Bochonok
15
2.50
4
Chris Quinn
9
1.80
2






Race Day #6 Data
Race #1
Race #2
Race #3
Race #4
Race #5
Race #6
Race #7
Skipper
Crew
Hull #
Sail #
Position
Crew
Hull #
Sail #
Position
Crew
Hull #
Sail #
Position
Crew
Hull #
Sail #
Position
Crew
Hull #
Sail #
Position
Crew
Hull #
Sail #
Position
Crew
Hull #
Sail #
Position
Jake Parks

3
968
1

5
969
1





4
967
2

3
968
1

5
969
3




Troy Hunter





4
967
2

3
968
3

5
969
3





4
967
1

3
968
1
Sandy Bochonok

5
969
2

3
968
3

4
967
2





5
969
3

3
968
2

4
967
3
Chris Quinn

4
967
3





5
969
1

3
968
1

4
967
2





5
969
2

































Coming up:
July 12 - Club Meeting
July 21 - Social Sail
July 22 - Race Day #7