A great, warm day for the SMSA Fall Invitational. I brought my friend Nate on the boat for his first sailing race, and he learned to trim main. We got off a decent start, and fought in light conditions to make consistent progress and stay in an advantageous place on the course to maximize breeze. Nate had his work cut out for him, constantly tweaking the main to keep us in the groove. There was a ripping current at the windward mark, and it took us a couple swings to make the rounding. We executed a fast, flawless set, and sailed a straightforward downwind leg to a mid-pack finish. It was a perfect, sunny day on the water and we all enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards SMSA hosted their annual Chili Cookoff, where our team was also well represented by Randy for a 4th place finish.
Century Club: Jonathan Nepini
Nate at the helm after the race
Little & big blue boats at the start
Today's crew
After our horrible boat and crew breaking experience in last year's Hooper/Point-No-Point race, we were rewarded with much nicer conditions this time around, with sun and breeze around 11-13. We got a clean, if slightly late start, and were able to carry our #1 on a close reach to Hooper's light. We lost some time waiting for a commercial ship to cross, but otherwise sailed a clean leg, though we lost some ground to Diablo. We pulled off a clean rounding and spin set, but the breeze got pretty light during the leg to Point No Point. We got in a rounding situation trying to squeeze inside T-Bone, and nad a pretty sloppy douse as a result. We recovered, and tacked out across the Bay again. As we approached PR1, we found out we made up lots of time on Diablo, who stayed close to shore, but still not enough to get ahead. In the end we took 4th for the day, but we all had a lot of fun anyway and enjoyed a great day out racing.
A spectacular orange moonrise
Out on Neptune's Wager for a Friday sunset sail. We enjoyed enough breeze to keep the boat moving, and sailed out to the Bay. On the way back we got a truly exceptional view, with a dramatic sunset ahead of us and a big orange moonrise behind. I could see that view a thousand times and it would never get old!
Today's route
A quick evening paddle up McIntosh Run this evening. The golden light on the browning marsh grass made for a spectacular display. I wish I had a picture!
Pretty cold but otherwise nice today for an evening sail on Dangerous. We sailed out on the Bay until sunset, and enjoyed the view of the moonrise on a breezy beat back in the river. Glad to still be enthusiastically logging Century Club days into the fall.
Today's route
The weeknight paddles just keep getting shorter, but I'm still enjoying the fall scenery. Took a quick lap out on the river and back before an evening meeting. The leaves are starting to change color and look very pretty.
Dolphins following the boat
Out for a morning sail on Neptune's Wager. We went out to the Bay to try and find some breeze, and drifted around for a couple hours in light conditions. We found even less breeze in the river, and decided to motor back in. Right about when we put the sails away, we noticed a big pod of dolphins behind us. They came right up to the boat, and we got some great video of them swimming alongside. This was the first time I've seen dolphins this season, and especially unusual to see them this late.
Today's route
Pretty cold out today for a quick after work paddle off Clarke's Landing. I took a short lap over to the southernmost cove and back, about all I had the daylight and time in my schedule for. Squeezing in the paddling days for as long as I can.
Running on Red Baron, yours truly at the helm
After an opporutnity was presented to me over the weekend, I went for a test sail on a friend's Olson 29. Great weather and I had a great time out on the boat. It was really interesting to see how things differ from the Olson 30, a lot is the same but there are many small differences that make the boats feel very different on deck. We beat up to the bridge, then set a spin and ran back down. A great boat and a nice evening out sailing, but I don't think I'll be able to make this one work for me.
Took a quick lap off SMSA today before an evening meeting. Took a lap up to the top of Old House Cove and under the bridge on Olivet Rd, a route I had somehow missed after all this time. Finally getting towards the point that I've covered the entire Solomons harbor creeks.