Mark very kindly took me out with James as crew for some practice before my Saturday checkout. We did a good amount of docking and general maneuvering under motor, plus some POBs. Wind was higher than I'm used to so that was really good. It wasn't super adverse for docking though, mostly straight on, only slightly pushed the bow out a couple of times. Really how Saturday isn't crazy conditions. Need to practice reefing and more POBs. Also backward steering. Sometimes it goes great and sometimes it seems to just take off and I can't get it back on track. :-(
Century Club: Rebekah Bromwell
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Did some docking/undocking and a heave to, and a neat trick heave to where you back the jib without tacking which helped reduce the power enough that we didn't need the main to counter it, and also some POBs. And it was an absolutely beautiful evening. Had a great time. I need to speak up louder and more clearly for crew direction though.
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Picked up Kyrlos & his wife before they went out in a dinghy and the 4 of us had some fun on j#4. We set out reefed and that was a good call. Of course, it completely died out later which was a bummer and I couldn't figure out how to un-reef underway because the main wasn't slack enough in an impromptu heave to. Hm.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
We took #4 again, but this time had to suffer a couple hours of essentially still wind. :-( It did pick up a bit off and on eventually though and the weather and music and company was great so was just happy to be out floating around. Ended up going in late, but nobody reserved #4 after me so I don't think it's a problem.
Monday, October 7, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Took J#4 with Melanie to the fort and back. Had a weird start and got pushed/drifted back to dock, then walked around and set up tied to #8 w/bumper padding us, reefed and finally had a successful push off. Was excellent sailing and perfect weather. Really beautiful sky too.
Saturday, October 5, 2024 to Sunday, October 6, 2024
Number of days:
2 days
Finally got to try Akimbo out for a cruising trip, and it was as awesome as expected. Had an insanely relaxing sail over on Saturday morning on a SINGLE steady broad reach. Eventually figured out the nightmare piling docking situation at the marina (we forgive them, everything else about haven harbor is great, but also watch yourself if it's low tide. Meep.) and caught the shuttle into town, checked out the fest and listened to a band, walked to the other side of the harbor for dinner and awesome live 90s hits, saw a spectacular sunset, blood Red Crescent moon rise, walked back to the other side of the harbor, checked out the beach/firepits, slept pretty well, got up and made coffee and tea for everyone, and then set out back home. The return sail was a lot lower wind but there were still some fun highlights. We even got back in time to pump out and then I docked and we packed out. Super great weekend!
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
There were a dozen crew today at member sail and I was the only skipper until almost the last minute! They just kept coming from the parking lot and Liz (dock master) and were trying to figure out how they could all sign up without skippers. Thank goodness Sandy came and a couple people had other fun stuff to do. It was a pretty low wind day but there were a few better bits and we had an ok time on Sayonara even with 5 crew.
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Volunteered to be Hansa dinghy rigger but also got to crew an impromptu Sonar race entry. Sonar 0 is one of the new ones and seriously not ready to go. Had to find a jib to take off another boat, plus something was quite wrong with the main, but that all hardly mattered in light of the absolute absence of wind . Ugh. 3rd tow this year, first time on a day fleet boat. The tow boat us couple was very cool and had a sweet big black dog hanging out with them at least. lol
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Skippered for member sail which had decent turn out in spit of the rain and fog. There was pretty ok wind until nearly the end too. Took out J#4 with James and Melanie so she could do some POBs in the turning basin and just sail around a bit. James did really well doing all the down wind sailing back. Docking was excellent which helps my anxiety about it.
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Went out on Akimbo with Steve, Rob & Jeannie. It was rainy but decent wind (mostly until it really died down) so we got to try out our rain gear and each do a POB. None of us really got it right. I think we are turning towards the mark way too early because we each struggled to be on a close reach heading towards it (vs beam or even broad) and even when blowing the main at that point the speed was obviously too high. At least I have a better idea of how I want to try to manage my turn next time.
Oh and I remembered to get a pic of my reverse docking job on Akimbo from Sunday before we set out. :-)