Century Club: Jonathan Nepini

Michael and I decided to use the very last of the weekend's warm temps to sneak in a quick paddle off Forest Landing. We made it about 2/3 of the way to the river before turning back due to gusty breezes and rapidly freefalling temperatures. We took a lap up one of the smaller coves, and landed after about an hour. The temperature was 15 degrees cooler when we returned than when we left the dock - I guess we're finished with the summer temps for now. A nice way to cap off a fun weekend.

With the SMSA boards open for checkouts again, Dewey and I planned a paddle with Michael and some Dangerous friends off SMSA in near 80 degree temperatures. We introduced a couple friends to paddling as well. It was pretty gusty, but we couldn't plan a route that allowed us to go upwind first, so we set off on a downwind course and accepted the consequences of that decision. We enjoyed a pleasant ride out to the end of Leason Cove, and a casual ride back. When we turned to the main channel of Mill Creek we had to work a little, and hugged the edge to stay out of the breeze as much as possible. The breeze was funneling around Molly's Leg as it often does for the last bit, and a couple folks in our group were getting tired and had to put in some good work to make the final crossing. It was a great evening on the water, and I look forward to many more opporutnities this summer to get out and play on the river.

Dion was out of town today so he entrusted me with the helm on Red Baron. Gusty conditions on the river, so after a bit of a tight launch off the dock we set out with a full main and a reef. Gusts continued to build into the low 20s towards race time, so we put in a reef to keep the boat manageable.

With a little luck I pulled off a timely start, and we kept the boat powered up on the windward leg. We took an early-ish tack to clear air, and by the first rounding we were still ahead of much of the fleet. As the wind was periodically light going back downwind, we sailed gybe angles to keep the 3 powered up. We found a bit of unnecessary yelling at the leeward mark, and I took a wide rounding to avoid an altercation with Harm's Way. We sailed another quick beating leg, and rounded to a deep angle to the finish. We were able to just hold off Splash, and beat them boat for boat by inches. It feels pretty good to beat a well-sailed J/105!

We took third for the race and third overall for the series. Not bad for my first time fully running a keelboat in quite a while. Other than the gusts it was a gorgeous sunny day and we had a fantastic time out on the water. A great way to wrap up the spring frostbite series!

Fun/practice sail today on Red Baron using their asymmetric spinnaker, which Dion aptly named Peppermint Patty. Light conditions to start, so we sailed upwind with just a main to get some distance to run the spinnaker across the basin. We sailed towards the opposite shore, and I experimented with how high I could bring the boat with that sail up (pretty high, if it's light enough). We executed a sloppy gybe and then had to do a conventional takedown as the breeze had come up and furling unit wasn't working well. We hoisted the #3 and had a relaxing upwind sail home. Fun to play with the new toy and get some helm experience with an asymmetric kite for the first time.