An evening sunset cruise with friends on the Barba Roja. Sailed out to the bay with the occasional help of the motor and set a spin to return and enjoy the gorgeous sunset. Nice way to clear my head before a difficult conversation.
Century Club: Jonathan Nepini
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Teaching a new crew member to fly a spinnaker
Monday, September 18, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
The Monday night paddle has been on the move lately, this time to St. George's Island for a paddle across to Cherryfield Point. Beautiful weather and a pretty sunset. Getting in all the time while I can.
Sunday, September 17, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
Took a lenghty, nearly 8-mile kayak around the upper Patuxent and several creeks. Nice cool, cloudy conditions and lots of good bird and wildlife spotting. Spotted a goat in Tucker Creek, and paddled all the way up another creek nearby with seemingly endless twists and turns. A great way to spend the day.
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
Went out with a friend on their uncle's Sunfish on the upper Patuxent. Conditions varied from light to moderate and we enjoyed a nice sail. I drove for a good bit of the trip but switched and showed Lelia how to drive back. Fantastic late summer weather and neat to check out a different part of the river from where I usually sail.
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Starting into the sunset
Last weeknight race of the year on the spicy meatball. I took out a friend from the Dangerous crew and he did great and we both had a blast. Moderate to heavy conditions kept the boat powered up well, and I was able to hang with the fleet despite two fairly mediocre starts and slow downwind legs. We took 6th of 14 boats for the evening. I'm really glad to see my old boat can hang with the newer Buccaneers even without all the tuning and setup projects done, and its great to already be getting competitive only a few races in.
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Tight spinnaker reaching
Last Wednedsay night of the year on Dangerous. Light-ish conditions and RC set us up a two lap course intended to be a windward/leeward, but in reality it ended up being all reaches. A clean start got us in a good position, followed by a late spinnaker set due to my mis-rigging the sail. A tight mark rounding, into a fast close reaching leg. Another hectic rounding with boats coming from several directions, followed by a super tight spinnaker reach to the finish. 5th out of 8th. It's hard to believe the Wednesday night series has come to an end so soon, and I'm hoping to continue to stack on Century Club days until the weather grows cold.
Monday, September 11, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Tonight's paddle group
The Monday night social paddle moved to Forest Landing today at the recommendation of a frequent attendee. We enjoyed ideal conditions and a leisurely paddle out towards Clarke's Landing. Got drizzled on for a bit, but we got to see a rainbow and a spectacular sunset. Sad to say the shorter days are starting to cut the paddling adventures short.
Thursday, September 7, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
I was fretting about the forecast all afternoon as I considered whether to race today. I finally decided to go to the club, and was still on the fence even as I was rigging the boat. I decided to go for it, and took Tommy and his friend Nolan with me for crew. We sailed out in the river and found conditions to be much more pleasant than expected, with wind around 8kts. Got the boat around the course pretty efficiently, taught Tommy and Nolan how to fly a spin on a Bucc, and ended the short evening running from a lightning storm, culminating in the amusing sight of 6 boats neck-in-neck sailing up the narrows. Glad I decided to go out, and we all had an enjoyable evening on the water.
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Light conditions today for a w/l to Victor and back. A good start and lots of tactical discussion as we weighed the pros and cons of each side of the course. A good spinnaker set and a long, slow run to a respectable finish. Hard to believe Wednesdays are already coming to a close, it feels like they just started!
Monday, September 4, 2023
Number of days:
0 days
Enjoying the scenery
Four of us out for tonight's Monday paddle in hot, glassy conditions. One in the group was a brand new kayaker out on his boat for the first time. He did well for the first couple miles, but then fell in and lost his phone and keys in the process. Ouch! He was a little shaken up by the ordeal so he went home and we continued on and made it a good ways up towards McIntosh Run, and got back just as it was getting dark. A nice way to end my holiday weekend.
(not counting a day as my delivery home from Deltaville already qualifies for today)