A nice leisurely paddle this evening with the usual Monday night crew. We checked out several of the creeks to the south of the ramp and enjoyed picture-perfect conditions all evening.
Century Club: Jonathan Nepini
Saturday, June 1, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
No GPS watch, so the route is my best guess
Brought my paddleboard with me and decided to get in a quick ride around Spa Creek after the pride parade. Windy conditions, but neat to check out a new spot and eyeball all the big money yachts in the harbor and a great addition to my ongoing experiment to paddle in as many rivers on the Chesapeake as possible.
Friday, May 31, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Drifting into the sunset
Taught a sailing lesson today on my boat. Light conditions, but we were able to float around in the harbor a bit and my student got some good helm time in advance of taking delivery of her & her husband's new-to-them J/35 tomorrow.
Made it halfway to Century Club before the end of May
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
A light spinnaker reach
Another light day out on the river, but we were able to get one race in. Not a super fast start but decently efficient, and we sailed a great upwind leg and found ourselves second around at the mark. Tailed Jimmy down to the offset, but lost the breeze and couldn't qutie bring it home. 4th place, which I was happy with all things considered.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
Took a nice paddle today off SMSA up to the end of St. John's Creek and back. Pleasant conditions and nice sightseeing. I saw a couple boats I'd love to buy and a couple worth saving. A nice way to ease the bummer of starting work again after an exceptional holiday weekend.
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
Did some messing around on the paddleboard today at the beach and got Lelia up on one for the first time.
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Out in the river
Out with Michael and my friend Lelia from college today for the SMSA Beer & Soda Run. The event is a fun race that consists of a race around the river, with a visit to the "store" and points for sodas & other beverages drank. Light conditions in the narrows at the start remained flukey through the harbor portion of the race. We worked on making good progress up to the "store", and found better breeze on the way back out. After a small mishap at the mouth of the harbor we got going well and enjoyed some nice long tacks on the river. We briefly set and carried a spin on one of the reaching legs, and enjoyed a fast, tight reach on the way into the harbor. After getting just about swallowed by a powerboat wake we found light conditions to the finish. A properly fun day on the water, and we took a win for the day.
After a great cookout lunch at the club, we set off on the Barba Roja for an afternoon fun sail. We anchored in the river and had a great swim call for about an hour, and did many halyard swings and dives off the boat. Afterwards, we set a spinnaker and had a quick run up to the bridge, and a comfortable beat back to the harbor.
One of the truly great days on the water that only come a few times a season, and I was glad to be able to share it with great friends from different parts of my life.
Thursday, May 23, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Nearing the leeward mark
Kicked back on the way in
Light but otherwise pleaseant conditions for the race this week. Got out early and did some practice spinnaker work before starting the one race of the evening. A bit slow on the start, but we remained competitive and in the mix, and sailed a solid upwind leg. Conditions lightened on the downwind, but we sailed high angles to keep the spinnaker full and the boat moving, to good effect. Stayed to the left side of the course for better breeze, but RC called a shortened course and we got caught on the wrong side. Ended up with a 5th overall, the best yet this season, and I gave James the helm and we enjoyed a nice relaxing ride back in.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
At the helm
Out on Elyisum tonight while Dewey is out of town. Sean put me on helm as per usual, and we had steady moderate conditions. Almost got a great start with some pretty hot maneuvers, but were called over early (another member of the RC team disagreed), and had to come back and restart. We worked on keeping the boat going fast, but couldn't make much of a return on the fleet. We worked through some tactics issues on each leg, and were a bit slow getting a spinnaker up both times. Nice to be out there on a fast boat in great conditions, but we definitely could've been tighter on our crew work and the results reflected that.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
Decided to take advantage of the fantastic weather to go for a solo paddle off Clarke's Landing. Headed south around Myrtle Point and down to Little Kingston Creek, took a lap around, and cut up the narrow channel to Little Kingston Creek. A nice quick evening paddle and a fun way to get a workout in.