Century Club: Jimmy Yurko

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

Tampa Sailing Squadron's Midwinter regatta is next week, and we're using the day to prep. A couple hours of polishing, followed up with packing a d stacking the boats for the road.

The custom boat stacking jacks I built a few years ago are continuing to prove useful. This time we were able to stack 3 boats high by lifting the first pair together.

It's a tall trailer, but goes down the road reliably.

Despite being a chilly morning, we worked up a sweat getting everything together.

We put nearly 8 hours in the project.

Thanks to Evan Scott, Jenn Marbourg, and Kristi for all the help.

0 nautical miles!

Basic Stats: Daily / Year to Date

hours on the water 0 / 13

NM sailed. 0 / 43

people engaged 4 / 19 ( only new participants add to total)

Monday, February 20, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

Good day with Friends

Great 50 degree afternoon.

Winds were around 10 knots with gusts in the teens.

Managed to get 4 kids out on the boat, putting us at a total crew of 8.

Kirsten, Hali, Nelleke, and Zoe were all out for the first time with us this season. It was Zoe's first time sailing, and she was a bit nervous upon getting on the boat. But shortly after setting sail she was having a good time with the rest of the kids.

The girls enjoyed sitting out with their legs overboard most, unfortunately they did get to learn that the February water is still quite cold.

With 4 new crew today, that puts us at 17 people out so far for the season on our goal to get to 100

Basic Stats: Daily / Year to Date

hours on the water 2.5 / 13

NM sailed. 10 / 43

people engaged 8 / 17 ( only new participants add to total)

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

Sunset Cruise

Warm evening, took the boat out for a short cruise to check the systems so we can take friends out tomorrow.

Beautiful sunset and worth the hour.

Basic Stats: Daily / Year to Date

hours on the water 1 / 10.5

NM sailed. 1 / 33

people engaged 1 / 13 ( only new participants add to total)

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

Too good to pass up

Barba Roja
Steve enjoying his lead just a bit much

With the forecast for 50 degrees, sunshine and 10-15 knot winds, it was too good of a day to sit ashore.

Don and Sarah Fletcher joined me for a few hours on the Patuxent.

There was enough breeze for the boat to remind me why we have lifelines and why I really should build myself some footholds.

In addition to my goal of exceeding 100 days on the water this year, I am going to try to get 100 different people out on the water.

So far we are at...8

This might be a bigger challenge than I imagine. But. This will be a good place to give it a shot.

Basic Stats: Daily / Year to Date

hours on the water 2.5 / 9.5

NM sailed. 10 / 32

people engaged 3 / 13 ( only new participants add to total)

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

Just because I could

25 degrees this morning and sunny. .

Winds were light, and I wanted to check my dock lines.

Fired up the engine, which was understandably stubborn to start. I empathize, I didn't want to get out of bed this cold morning either.

After several minutes of fidgeting and warming up it was finally ready.

The rest of the boat had other ideas.

Thewas ice on the dock lines and low water in the slip...but just enough to get out

The rudder needed help, as the gudgeons had a thick layer of ice encasing them and there was no way I was getting it installed without luck . (That's what I call my really heavy rubber mallet)

I didn't see any other boats on the move in the harbor which is understandable as the watermen would be done by now and the light cool breeze gave me an ice cream headache and burned the tips of my ears.

A slow put around the creek to watch some eagles. Irritate some mallards and wave to one other boater who was working on his boat at the dock before I returned to the slip to test my landing rigging.

I'll need some better bumper and a few more dock cleats to make the system just right. But now I'm pretty confident we'll be able to get in and out safely even when the weather isn't quite right.

Basic Stats: Daily / Year to Date

hours on the water 1 / 7

NM sailed. 2 / 23

people engaged 1 / 11 ( only new participants add to total)

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

Docking practice

Annabelle and I spent some time practicing docking, birdwatching and doing some minor maintenance on the boat. (B25)

Weather was unusually warm (well over 50), sunny with a light breeze.

We saw a flock of geese, several flocks of small ducks, the blurry Grey thing in the pine tree picture is a great blue heron that soared right past us before landing.

Basic Stats: Daily / Year to Date

hours on the water 1 / 7

NM sailed. 2 / 23

people engaged 2 / 11 ( only new participants add to total)

Sunday, January 15, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

Brisk paddle

Took a quick paddle in the 36 degree morning.

First time in a long time I had to pull ice out of the boat to ge the journey started.

Launched at the drum point ramp, paddled upwind to Windward Harbor docks, found a sunny spot in the Lee of the stiff breeze to rest and warm up.

The cool wind was enough to keep me pretty chilly despite working hard to paddle upwind.

The return trip was very quick as the wind was dead astern. I was able to surf a few waves once I got into the last cove as the wind funneled and built behind me.

The cool water is very clear right now. I stopped by my sailboat to inspect for growth on the bottom and found none

Basic Stats: Daily / Year to Date

hours on the water 1 / 6

NM sailed. 1 / 21

people engaged 1 / 11 ( only new participants add to total)

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

"The Front Fell Off!"

We've been working on and off for months on the bow of "Making Waves" after she had an unfortunate run in with the back of a larger boat.

The incident caused the stem fitting and forestay to rip the pointy bits right off the boat. Leaving a lovely new window in the bow. It wasn't quite big enough to make a spinnaker launcher from, and left no where to re-attach the forestay, so Erick (MFO) suggested we put it back the way we found it.

Despite not being able to find most of the tools and supplies needed to get we managed to install the stem fitting and new stainless steel internal reinforcement. Never quit just because you don't have the tools, skills or patience to do the job.

Basic Stats: Daily / Year to Date

hours on the water 0 / 5

NM sailed. 0 / 20

people engaged 2 / 11 ( only new participants add to total)

Saturday, January 7, 2023

Number of days:

1 day

Afternoon cruise with friends