Enjoyed the fantastic weather getting out on #4 with James & Dan for a couple of hours tonight. We reefed b/c wind was supposed to build as the evening went on, but it dropped dramatically approaching sunset. We had a really beautiful sail out just past ft McHenry and back. ≈2.5 hrs, cool, wind was SE (really ESE) 8-12 most of the night.
Century Club: Rebekah Bromwell
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Spent the night over at hhsa and took Huzzah out for a great sail Sunday morning. Wind died down around 2pm but we got some excellent code zero practice in, and did get the spinnaker up but eventually gave up trying to use it with so little wind. ≈6 hrs cool and overcast to start, then warmed up and sun came out (and killed the wind) 8-12 ENE (while it lasted).
Saturday, September 20, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Skippered Akimbo for team Axelerators and had a pretty awesome time. We were not competitive, and didn't even try messing with rigging a spinnaker, but I still feel good about our course and speed. Wind dropped dramatically after the first couple of hours which was a bummer and didn't help our time though. Long course was out around ft carol and back. All in, about 4.5hrs. Cool overcast but sun later. Wind was NE 4-12ish
Friday, September 19, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Took Akimbo over to get diesel and showed Steve how to use self tailing winches and hoist sails and everything. Very very low wind and quite hot. ≈2hrs wind was 0-5kts SW
Also pulled a heavy log out of the slip that had drifted in by Akimbo. Didn't want to scrape it tomorrow with higher wind pushing me around.
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Took a cruiser out for member sail but got trapped by the navy resupply ship that took an hour to pivot around blocking the entire harbor. :-/
Ended up ping ponging back and forth between the inner harbor and UA for ages. Eventually got out to ft McHenry and then called it a night and headed to the turning basin to get the sails in. 5:30-8:30 Wind was NE (actually really just N) 5-12ish
Thursday, September 11, 2025 to Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Number of days:
5 days
Possibly my best trip yet. Really really special due to meeting new good friends, a super comfortable and fast boat, and gorgeous conditions. We went counter clockwise in an attempt to maximize sailing opportunities, which didn't quite work the way we planned, but we did get some fabulous sailing in anyway. I learned a ton, stood watches (as captain, and some unintentional solo when my buddy dozed off lol) and got to sail us out of the bay into the Atlantic at sunrise. That evening we hove-to out in the ocean at sunset and ate my tray of stuffed shells which wil be a standard passage meal from now on. We stopped once for dinner and and overnight at Chesapeake city, then got the rest of the way out of the canal and sailed the entire rest of the way down to Harrington Harbor. I'm totally sold on the quantum code zero btw. Felt kind of emotional coming back into harbor at sunset. Really wanted to just keep going and do it again. (We probably could have with the amount of provisions we had left hah.)
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Wind seemed higher at the dock but ended up being pretty low, but still got a lovely foggy cruising sail with friends in. Cool low 70s misty fog. Wind NE 5-10. <3hrs
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Absolutely fantastic weather and wind. Actually reefed to keep things easy and had a wonderful sail w/Bob & Petra. Coached a little during their quick stops and figure 8's. It's hard to turn off that urge to give tips all the time after teaching all summer. Luckily they weren't annoyed.
70s, sunny, wind was NE w/medium shiftiness 8-14kts. ≈3.5hrs
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Low wind to start the day but it picked up later and out away from the inner harbor. Very flakey with big shifts though. 3-8 NW (mostly, with bits of straight up N and W and a little random E thrown in as well.)
j22 for 2 hours, Akimbo for 4.
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
What.A.Day. Wind was higher than forecasted to start and built to ≈17 NW for a bit, but we had a good start and were in first for a good bit. And then we had an actual POB during a tack (crew slid under the lifelines on the low side) but we immediately did a figure 8 and got right back, used the swim ladder and recovered. We did lose several places, BUT managed to claw our way back into second by the end! I was on jib which was pretty full on especially during the next to last leg (before hoisting the spin) when we had both the barberhaul line and regular sheet set up and I was switching between them.
engine died as we were heading in to dock, so used jib to sail up to delirium to raft up. Engine issue seemed to be carbon build up. Wish we'd had a fresh fuel filter to put in before leaving. I wasn't too happy about leaving at 5 and heading directly into a big line of storm cells and not huge confidence in the engine. :-/
docked back in Annapolis at 12:30 after an absolutely miserable drenched ride back. Had an exciting moment before it got really dark when the wind was really kicking up and we needed to get the jib in, and as per, the furling line was stretched out and we couldn't furl past about 3/4. Was a struggle but got sheets and rest of the sail wrapped manually around the forestay, cleared off at the how and coiled into a cow hitch like a bowline. I think gusts were in the mid-high twenties at least during that bit, but they died down considerably after we passed the front. Still massive rain off and on even after we got away from thd lightning and thunder.