Sunday School

I got a chance to get out on the water this last Sunday with a bunch of new club members. It is way cool to see our PSC members ranging from High Schoolers up to septegenerians all here for the same reason - to get our on the water and learn more about the never-ending school of sailing.

The weather was warm enough to make you break a sweat rigging up, and we spent a fair amount of time doing just that. I still hadn't rigged our new vanguards by myself, so I took my time with my crewman and newest member Roy to go through all the nuances and knots necessary to make her seaworthy. After the last couple hints from Commodore Troy, we were ready to go.

Chris was our most patient teacher today, rigging two boats and sailing with the Schroeder family. He taught Anna and her friend to rig the Laser with care.

Navigating out of the marina was again a challenge in light wind, a common problem on sunny days. Once we all got out beyond the breakwater, the wind filled our sails and we were off! We pursued our junior sailors to figure out which is faster, the Vanguard, or the Laser? We're still not sure though. Once I chased them down I was greeted with the call of a wild sea lion. I looked around momentary, but after I heard Anna's laugh realized that her crew was the source of the wild animal noises. Kids...<facepalm>.

Eventually Roy had his turn on the tiller, which freed me up to take some more pictures. I snapped this timely shot right as Troy and Russ overtook us and Chris in the C-Lark. It is apparent that Troy needs to get some racing out of his system.

Inevitably on these super nice sunny days the wind leaves us. It left abruptly while we still a ways from the Marina. I also made the rookie mistake of forgetting to bring a paddle, so we just waited it out and sailed in on what few puffs of wind we could find.

Overall, it was a great day with an excellent turn out. I think our newest members are all making clear progress towards becoming upstanding skippers in the Peninsula Sailing Club. Hope to see you out there!

Dirty Boat Day 2016

This year, with the recent addition of two Vanguards that were already relatively clean, it didn't take long to get the four hulls on the dock washed down. A little pressure washing and some soap does the trick quite well.

Once we got that out of the way, it was time to work on our new Vanguard cradle that was prefabricated the day before. The idea is to use a strap to reduce stress on the hull while it is on the dock.

Here you can see the old cradle in the foreground

Here is the new cradle

I don't have a picture yet, but we removed the roller on the deck edge and added a simple outdoor carpet for hauling out the Vanguards. This is another measure we hope will reduce the stress put on the hulls as they get splashed or hauled out.

We of course had a little bit of time to try out one of our new Vanguards. We also tried to show off for (what we think was) a Kitsap Sun photographer that was covering Kitsap activities for their outdoor guide.

Welcome Vanguards

Peninsula Sailing Club has just acquired two new (used) Vanguard 15s from Silverdale Community sailing  program/Central Kitsap HS sailing. I would like give a tremendous thanks to Troy Hunter and Steve Trunkey for making the connection and keeping the gears moving on this club acquisition.

Steve arrived Saturday morning with a trailer full of boats, two of which were about to become part of our fleet. We carefully unloaded and rigged them at the top of the boat ramps.


It was great to have Steve show us all the little rigging tricks that they've engineered over the years while competitively sailing these boats. My first impression is that these boats will be much more efficient to rig and it appears more though has been put into it. I can't wait to try them out... well, I can probably wait a few months for warmer weather, but you get what I mean ;)



Troy set out on the maiden voyage from the ramp to the fuel dock about 300 meters away. I gave him a little shove on the boom to get him off the dock and nearly sent him for a swim. In my defense, I did ask him if he was ready. He made it over to the fuel dock while we got the second boat rigged.

We had to do a little bit of shuffling, but both Vanguards are now at the dock ready to rock and roll. I hope that this will give the club a little shot in the arm excitement it needs to have a really great year in 2016. Keep your eyes on the calendar for upcoming events you might be interested in.