Breeze in the high teens and a crew of 3 on the boat. We put up a #3 and set out for a 3-lap W/L course. Kept the boat moving well but had some trouble getting her to go fast upwind, and our downwind legs suffered with the small jib. Continuing to work on cleaning up our crew work and figuring out how to make the boat go fast when it's blowing. Likely just need more people to balance upwind.
Century Club: Jonathan Nepini
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Coming back uphill at the leeward mark
Monday, May 15, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
A nice long after-work paddle off Clarke's Landing. I set a fairly brisk pace and made it around most of one half of the creek. Lots of good bird watching and rays in the water.
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
The fleet, as seen between the lifelines
Out for another great Wednesday night race on Dangerous. Light-ish conditions and a crew of three made for ideal racing. Got a clean start and stayed ahead of the whole fleet for the first two legs. Had a protest-worthy close crossing with a C boat, skirted the shallows going to A, and did our best to keep the speed up on the downwind leg. Another nice beat to V, but couldn't keep the speed up on the last downwind leg and the Merit 25 got us on corrected time. Took second in non-spin. It feels really good to be figuring this boat out and seeing some results from our effort.
Monday, May 8, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
A nice sunset at the Wharf
Today's route
Finally got the right combo of availability and weather to drop the paddleboard in for the first time. Took a long, meandering lap around upper Breton Bay. Saw some osprey & other birds, and got a good workout in. Glad to finally be back out paddling, and now I can start really laying in the Century Club days.
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Two makes a fine crew
Crewed for Dewey in today's SMSA doublehanded race. A good start, but a jibsheet came untied and it took me a couple minutes to get it figured out. A nice first leg, until the wind dropped out before the first mark. The wind filled in and out throughout the afternoon, and resulted in mostly upwind-ish conditions, other than a major shift and a downwind leg about 2/3 of the way through. Lots of opportunity for Dewey and I to tweak trim settings on the longer course, and I found it to be a great learning opportunity to fine-tune the boat. A beautiful day on the water and a first in an admittedly small non-spin class, plus beating a J/111 boat for boat.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Making it to the start late
Tonight's race was dedicated to Brian, a friend and Barba Roja crewmate, who passed away yesterday.
Ran Dangerous with a crew of 3 this week, and managed sail area early with a #3 and a reef. Lost track of time and started nearly 5 minutes late. We had a great reaching leg at the start, followed by a long beat to the bridge. We were able to get the boat to point pretty well, but could've definitely used a couple more bodies on the rail. Had some fun and caused a little mayhem at the bridge, followed by a long, slow running leg as the wind fell off. Ended the race on a nice reach, and finished 6th in non-spin despite our late start. I'm having a lot of fun learning this boat and starting to get it to reach its potential.
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Yours truly running the "store" during the race
Helped out with the SMSA Fun Run today. I ran a skiff as the "store", where boats had to stop and pick up beverages during the race. Anchored off Back Creek, then followed the fleet around to deliver additional beverages as requested. The breeze disappeared for a while during the middle of the race, but filled back in nicely before the end. A good collection of boats on the line, great weather, and a superb steak fajita dinner back at the club afterwards. A great event and a fun way to spend a Saturday.
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Motoring out to the start
Dangerous lived up to her name in her first SMSA Wednesday night effort. Despite the heavy-ish conditions we sailed under a heavy #1 and full main. A mix of green and expereinced crew, but no one who had worked together before. It quickly became apparent that we didn't have the weight on board or the crew experience to make that combo work. After a couple crash tacks and some mild chaos we decided to try and put in a reef. The crew assigned to that task had a difficult time, and during that process Dewey pulled the plug and retired before the start. The boat is a real handful in a blow and getting the crew up to the task will be an interesting challenge to work through this season.
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
At the helm
Took my turn driving Elysium this week. Three of us on the boat, so just enough to go and we ran non-spin. Light to moderate conditions meant a realitively short w/l course today. Got a decent start but a little low on course, and made an iffy tactical call to put in a tack to improve our position. Third in class at the windward mark, but we ran wing on wing and caught one boat coming back down. Interesting to get a feel for the helm of the J/33 and get some more experience skippering.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Safely at the slip
A quick trip across the harbor to deliver Dangerous to her new home. Got halfway across only for the motor to cut out and we couldn't get it started again. Turned out to be a bad spark plug. Called in a tow from a friend and managed to glide into our slip easily enough. Spent some time rigging the boat to get her ready to race next week.