Took out j#4 again. Had a hell of a time trying to get set up and out before the race. Wanted to practice heave to's but took an HOUR sorting out all the boat shifting and rigging. Got out towards anchorage marina, did one heave to, got radio'd to come pick up crew for the race and headed back. Docked at t-head to pick up Remy (Melanie started out with me already) and then couldn't get off the damn dock. Pinned to it completely, didn't want to walk it back over the swim ladder or scrape around the other end, shoved off and drifted back in, waited for wind shift and Remy and I both shoved as hard out and fwd as possible and just made it. We set out with the 2 front runners but quickly fell behind. Something really isn't quite right with the main on #4 I think. The out haul doesn't cleat, and it just seems kind of floppy. Struggled to match front runners tacks. Eventually even James B was catching up to me by ft McHenry and said we should turn around when Mark got back to where we were, so we did. Managed to really speed up a ton heading back and crossed the line well before everyone else. (Although obviously was only racing James B at that point.) Wing on wing for the (partial) "win" again!
Century Club: Rebekah Bromwell
Took Sun out with James B2, Mark & Tony to show James all the stuff to practice before the weekend trip. We did both reefs and the main in the turning basin and then headed back for me to practice downwind docking at the T-head. Was almost more educational for the different ways we practiced getting back out after docking but it was all helpful.
Sailed on sweet dreams to Bodkin's with Albert and James. (My James) Got to helm most of the time, used navionics to nav around the shoals and stuff. Mostly motor sailed there but did get a bit of straight sailing before turning into the super narrow creek channel. Anchored successfully and had a boat scrubbing work party there, a short swim and lunch and then left. Made great time sailing down wind all the way back, and got into a good routine with the new preventer while jibing.
I think I prefer the magothy river inlet just because there were no jerk motor boats zipping through making wakes while we anchored, but otherwise liked it a lot.
Crewed for Priscilla for accessibility and then got a good hour of reverse maneuvering and docking a couple times on Sun.
Took out #4 with James and Zsombor and we came in 3rd!!! About 10 seconds behind Priscilla!! I think we might have overtaken her actually if we had hit that last gust a little earlier. It was amazing. I might be a racer.
it was insanely stressful at the beginning trying to deal with the crowding and stand on rules and stuff.
Absolutely gorgeous night also. Not too cool or hot, cloudless and better than expected wind. Just right.
Had a nice morning out with Robert, Steve, and Susan.
#4 is back up and running and sailed wonderfully. We did some downwind docking practice, heave to experiments, and some fun tacking.
Sailed out to red #9 and raced back to DSC from 12-4. Amazing wind. Was reefed (#8 thankfully had grommets so could tie up the reefed sail and keep good visibility) but still zipped along so fast our wake looked like a speedboat! Then kept boat rigged and went back out with more friends and toodled around between DSC and the turning basin, went down into the marina by fells point and checked out some boats. Great day.
Went to WoW to skipper a J but didn't have crew, so hopped on Sun but they needed longer to orient new crew so jumped over onto Akimbo as the full moon group started getting ready. It was FANTASTIC. The clouds unfortunately blocked what should have been a really great full moon, but the wind and weather made up for it. Got up to 6.3 a few times heading back upwind after the bridge. Had to motor eventually through b/c the wind was just shooting straight down the channel at us.
Great weekend sail to Annapolis on Sun. Sailed out on 1st reef, prepared to bail at various sheltered spots in case of storms but none came. We did go to the 2nd reef around sparrows point and it's a good thing because around the bay bridge the wind picked up even more (again). Got a mooring ball in Annapoli ($35) and water taxi to the dock ($4 each person each way) to have dinner at the boatyard restaurant. Anchored at Magothy River sheltered area after the bridge on the way back to make coffee and have a quick swim. Lovely morning. Pretty low wind coming back so had to motor the whole time with practically an ornamental jib. Got back early enough to see a couple of J's out for member sail and did our pump out and refilled the diesel. Great weekend overall.