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.

Class time!

Troy has been sharpening our group by teaching us special topics during our monthly meetings.

Last month he showed us how to inspect and replace the impeller on our small outboard that we use for the safety boat.

It actually turned out to be a lot more complex than I thought it would be, but you really can't beat these visual aides when you are standing there seeing it done firsthand.

This month he taught us about Laser rudder, tiller, and tiller extensions. It was interesting to find out some of the rules guiding rudder/tiller design for racing and how people have modified them to gain a tactical edge.

It was neat to see several different styles of tiller extensions. I personally like the carbon fiber tiller, I think every boat needs more carbon fiber and titianium ;)

Thanks Troy! You are a great teacher, commodore, and friend to us all.

First Social Sail of 2015

April 19^th was our first official Social Sail event of 2015! It was a glorious day.

We had a good turnout – Sandy, Chris, Jack, Troy, and the two of us newbies.

Don and Jessica

Don and I joined the club at the beginning of the year but it’s been about six years since we’ve been on a sailboat and we’ve never been on a C-Lark before. Lucky for me, Don has loads of general boating experience and he understands the fundamentals of sailing quite well so we had a successful first day. The wind did pick up at one point and Don lost the tiller while wrangling with the mainsail. We spun in a circle and I squealed with anxiety but he quickly recovered and all was well. 

Chris and Jack

We also didn’t have our jib rigged properly at first so the other boats were skipping past us on the water. Don kept grumbling about how much faster they were. Chris and Jack passed us closely and Jack pointed out our mistake with the jib. Once corrected, we picked up speed - to Don’s delight. :)

Lots of boats on the water that day.

Our three boats caught the attention of another boater who came to ask about membership after the group called it quits for the day. We hope to welcome him and his wife as new members soon.

Anyone interested in sailing is encouraged to stop by and talk to us any time. You do not have to be experienced to join. We do not have formal lessons currently but we do have very experienced members who can teach you one-on-one and with whom you can sail until you are comfortable and competent to sail independently. For more membership information, visit our website. 

Our next Social Sail is coming up this Saturday, May 2^nd. Hopefully the weather will be warm and bright again. :)

~ Jessica, PSC Treasurer

Work Party!

I drove to the work party with a little wooden boat in the back of my van that most would consider seaworthy enough. It had a small leak in the hull and the sail comes out of the boom, but so what! I could still sail it! Now, after starting the repairs, I have a boat that is most assuredly not seaworthy any longer. In fact the more we sat there and looked at it, poked it, the more things we found to fix. as is usually the case with any seagoing vessel.

We had a great turnout with at least five of us working on something at any given time. Because our self appointed social committee of one (Andrzej) was in attendance our work was readily interspersed with the fine art of drinking spirits. I think we were able to get at least one more boat ready to go into service, which is great because that's one less leaky boat on the dock to worry about. I'm sure Troy will be happy to get a little extra driveway space as well.

Andrzej and Jessica sanding a rudder. We discovered that this one was made of foam and had a great foil shape to it. It is our new 'racing' rudder.

Chris is sifting through our various boxes of assorted hardware looking for just the right piece to finish his project. (Sorry Chris, I didn't see what you were working on. Tell me in the comments!)

Andrzej likes to get dirty.

Sandy is putting the finishing touches on one of our trailers.

That's me trying to get some old screws out of the hull.

Sandy really get's excited at our work parties and it shows!

Andrzej takes a brief break to hydrate himself with some unlabeled booze.

After hours of digging in boxes, I think Chris finally found the hardware he needed.

Nikki and I spent most of our time on the porch with the El Toro drilling out screws that had broken their heads off.

This is the 'brain trust' figuring out how to fix a wooden boom that has a crack in it.

If you hold the boom like Don here, your opinion on how to fix it carry more weight for sure!

Sandy and Chris make a great team!

This is the extra parking spot that will be opening up soon.

Here's that new racing rudder I was talking about.

Jessica sanded the crap out of this rudder and it has a new layer of epoxy coating.

Troy is super stoked that we got some stuff done today!

I'm glad Troy seems to enjoy having us all crash his place and use his tools. These kinds of repairs would not be possible without his garage and the cumulative knowledge from the club. I can't wait for the next one!

El Toro Paddle Boat

I was able to get the El Toro that was donated to us last year in the water today. With the help of my kids, we floated it and rigged it, unfortunately we had some forces of nature working against us.

The fist thing we noticed was a small seeping leak near the centerboard. It had already been repaired previously, but probably just needs to be cleaned an resealed. The second problem was the wind, there was none. The kids were now bored and ready to go home, but I had an idea.

Once I determined the leak was slow, we headed to the boathouse to drop off the sail and mast, then pickup a paddle. Once I put those two in the boat they were content to just paddle around the bay.

Eventually I hopped in, too. Later, Troy got off work and joined us for a bit. It felt great just to be on the water, and now I know what my project will be at next weekend's work party.

Paddling an El Toro is tough work.