Century Club: Jerry Lee

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Friday, September 23, 2022 to Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Number of days:
16 days
Sept 23rd to Oct 19th 2022
  • Friends visiting from Orlando! (I spent six years in Florida)
  • Took my parents out to see the fireworks at the Wharf

Work trips (power boat): 11 
Fun trips: 5 (2 sailing trips)

I honestly can't remember all the trips this month.  I wish I was getting more bookings for my work cruises, but I'm lucky just to get what I get during this season.  the big hurricane weekend didn't help either.  

No racing this month :( My parents had just arrived to spend a month in the USA, and my birthday fell on that week, so I went and did something else.  

Memorable trips: My friend Marta passed her skippers testing for my sailing club, Sailing Club of Washington.  Just beforehand, we did an unofficial tutoring session.  It was cool watching her be able to sail the boat herself.  We did a bunch of figure 8s, circles, and docking practice.  

I haven't taken out Sonora this month.  I really miss sailing her.  When the season is over, I'd like to sail somewhere far.  Maybe Norfolk, or even Cape May.   

Friday, September 2, 2022 to Thursday, September 22, 2022
Number of days:
16 days
Sept 2nd to Sept 22nd
  • https://www.spinsheet.com/images/styles/thumbnail/public/century-club/win1.jpg?itok=QF5utrFk

Work trips: 11 days 
Racing: 2 days
Fun sails: 3 days

Some notable guests on my boat
- I had a proposal on my boat!  She said yes!  Both of the people brought their daughters and it was packed full of family fun.  After I set the anchor, they went up to the bow and did the proposal.  I'm so flattered.  They will never forget this sail! 
- I had a guest who was in his early 70s.  He said he had a brother who was a world cruiser.  In the 80s, out in the pacific, he was lost at sea.  I could hear the heartbreak in my guest's voice even though he was trying to mask it and say it wasn't a big deal. :(  
- I had another guest who had bought an Island Packet 38 out in Tahiti!  I am so excited for him.  Cruising the pacific!

Racing
- Me and new crew 'placed' (in quotation marks because we don't track it) 1st overall. Had a great port-side start start and left everyone in the dust in the first heat.  Won by half a lap!  On the 2nd heat, more people followed my strategy and I got lost in the pack.  But I managed to get on a course that required less tacks.  Using a lot of offensive strategies, we managed to finish in the top 3.  We did all this on the second slowest boat in the fleet!
- This last race was a clusterf*.  Firstly, I forgot to bring my boat keys so I wasn't able to bring my power boat to do committee boat.  So I drove back to the sailing marina, with my crew snagging the last available, slowest club boat.  Then we ended up hitting a boat due to poor watchkeeping.  At the end of the race, I lost one of my things so I wasted 30 minutes looking for it (it was in the spinnaker bag).  

Spending more than half the month on the water, not too bad.  

Monday, August 8, 2022 to Thursday, September 1, 2022
Number of days:
17 days
8/8 - 9/1 Work trips, racing, fun sails
  • New graphics and DC commercial reg. numbers on Cortina, now moored at the Wharf / Gangplank Marina. ARE YOU ENTERTAINED? (my cat is)
  • Another dog on the boat!
  • Checking out nature with a repeat customer
  • Kids entertaining themselves with knots on Sonora
  • Kate, Tim, and me after a great WNR with SCOW

Work trip: 10 days (3 of them are sailing trips)
Racing: 2 days
Random fun trip on the power boat: 2 days (racing got canceled, committee boat was already in the water) 
Fun fails: 3 days 

I'm probably missing 1-2 days but this is what I have logged.  Some highlights: 
My power boat is at a fancy new marina!  A bulk of my cruising business is based out of the Wharf Marina.  I'm still getting used to the hotel-like showers and floating docks. Its extra nice that I already have friends there.  3 of them are from my sailing club.  Funny thing is, there is a whaler gang there already, so I'm basically the most recent addition to the Boston Whaler cult in that marina.  I am by far the smallest, non-tender boat taking up its own slip there.  

The first of the two races I did was frustrating.  I showed up late and got one of the slowest boats.  The entire centerboard trunk would flex.  The second race was much better.  I chose one of the boats that still has the telltales on the sails.  I use the **** out of the telltales!  It was one of those 'lumpy' wind days where you had to pick spots on the river with more wind.  I am not very good with those.  I couldn't get the boat moving very fast, but I managed to use some offensive tactics -- pushing out boats on the same tack, and blocking the wind for the competitors.  Still learning spinnaker - we fudged it up the first heat, but we managed to fly it on the second heat.  On the 2nd lap of the 2nd heat, the wind had shifted enough where we decided to take on more of a beam reach course.  It kept pace with boats that had a spinnaker up and we pinched in to a third place within the scot fleet.  

Saturday, July 16, 2022 to Sunday, August 7, 2022
Number of days:
9 days
Catching up - Jul 17th to Aug 7th

I'll have to do a list format here.  Been too busy with work to update the Century club log.  

Work Trips
Sailboat (Sonora) - 
8/7

Power boat (Cortina) - 
7/30, 7/27, 7/24
7/20 - donated boat time to be committee boat for my club's wednesday night races!

Fun sails 
7/21 SCOW social sail
7/24 Scot w/ friend
7/28 SCOW social sail

Races 
8/3 SCOW WNR (did bad!) 

Highlights: 
On one of my power boat work trips, a 9 year old german boy told me it was one of the best days of his life!  And on a sail out on the chesapeake bay, introduced a new guests to his first time ever on a sailboat.  

On one of the SCOW social sails, lost my oakleys when a 34kt gust blew my hat away while I was helping one of the later Scots get their mainsail down.  

I really want to get back to full-time schedule on the water.  This work project is taking too long.  

I'm pretty sure I'm missing at least 3 days but I can't remember all the times I went out!  These 9 days will have to do.  

Thursday, July 14, 2022 to Saturday, July 16, 2022
Number of days:
3 days
Tutoring, more work trips, and a photogenic sailing cruise

Got lucky with weather.  Despite the unsettled forecast, none of my work trips got cancelled.  
My Thurs guest was a local who grew up in DC - he was doing a birthday cruise for his girlfriend.  Turns out he was connected to the house music scene in DC, which in turn was connected to the one in Orlando, where I worked as a bouncer for a few years.  We knew a lot of the same people!  

Friday, I had a wonderful sail with my guest, who was also doing a birthday cruise for his wife.  I was worried about the light winds, but we managed to tool around the Chesapeake bay at 2.5 to four knots.  My guest was an engineering professor, so it was really cool being able to explain to him the physics of sailing.  I hope he is hooked!  

today, I hopped on a flying scot for a guy who has some experience sailing - he is challenging the skipper cert. process like I did, and I was running him through the gauntlet.  He is pretty close, but could use some cleaning up with all the maneuvers.  We'll do a few more sessions and see if he can get checked out soon.  

Monday, July 11, 2022 to Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Number of days:
2 days
Work trips keep trickling in!

Despite my reduced work schedule, I already had three trips this week.  Unfortunately, two of them were on the same day, so it only counts as one!  I have two more coming up this week.  

On Monday I had a special trip with a local superstar - Kate!  Kate writes for K Street Magazine and she is highly connected to DC, with a wealth of knowledge on things even only visible from the water.  I found her to be very remarkable and interesting -- I think I learned more on this trip, which is silly because I'm supposed to be the guide.  Thanks for coming aboard Kate!  

Today's cruises were lovely.  Both were family trips.  My earlier cruise was a former military family who both had spent some time in Korea.  It was nice to talk about the 'old' Korea around the turn of the century, where my memory of it being home pretty much ends.  

 

Thursday, July 7, 2022 to Friday, July 8, 2022
Number of days:
2 days
A relatively quiet week

I was supposed to tutor an hopeful skipper to get him ready for his checkout ride, but no-wind conditions on Monday prevented us from going out.  

I've been working on expanding my business so I've been taking less guests on my boats.  On Thursday, I had a really lovely cruise on the sailboat with guests fro Mississippi.  My guest Keith wanted to retire and go sailing on a sailboat.  He said he absolutely loved being under sail!  I hope he can achieve his dream.  

Friday, I took a friend out on a sailboat.  I'd lost touch with her, but was really surprised to find out shes a very capable first mate.  

 

Monday, June 27, 2022 to Sunday, July 3, 2022
Number of days:
4 days
Winning a race heat! Then followed by work and fun trips

Weds: I went to Wednesday Night Racing!  First heat, we came in second to last.  Second to last heat, came in middle of the pack.  Last heat.. we won!  I'm bad at tactics though I can keep the boat moving at a decent speed.  So when my first mate MK, who is good at tactics, took the helm on the last heat, she got us a great start ahead of everyone and we stayed at that spot all the way to the end.  It also helps to remember to lower the centerboard on upwind sections! 

Thurs: I had a solo guest in the morning.  then I went sailing with a friedn on one of the SCOW's FS19s.  After that, I attended social sail, which was fun!  

Friday: x2 guests.  Both very interesting guests!  

Saturday: took a break and stayed home! 

Sunday: I went on a fireworks cruise with my friends on Sonora.  

 

Thursday, June 23, 2022 to Sunday, June 26, 2022
Number of days:
4 days
Lots of work this past weekend! Wrapped up with a fun sail
  • A view of the Providence with her topsail out, seen from my work cruise
  • I love doing parent-child cruises!

Thursday - I took a friend out on her first sailboat experience on my sailing club's flying scots (SCOW.org)

Friday - Saturday I was out on the power boat ALL DAY for my work trips (www.reflectionsdc.com).  It was really, really enjoyable.  I love my job!  

Sunday, I decided to take the day off and remind myself that sailing is still fun.  I have a friend from my salsa dancing that is also from San Diego who had a little bit of sailing experience.  We took Sonora out on West River and sailed around.  Despite small craft advisory conditions, she did really well, regularly moving at six knots under triple reefed sail.  We got to spend a few hours at the Rhodes river anchorage relaxing a bit, talking about our time in San Diego.  

Next week, I'm going to take some time off of boating to focus on my business - I'm trying really hard to find a marina to operate out of, as I was getting really tired of having to pick up my guests at the boat ramp.  

Sunday, June 12, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Sunday fun sail

Wind forecasted at a measely 8kts.  We fought strong currents to get out of the channel, doing a million tacks.  Once we were in the river, we were greeted with pleasant 14 kntos gusting to18 knots.  Sailed down to the Wilson bridge and did a few tacks by Barca.  Saw a Cape Dory Typhoon doing the same, except she got to use the engine to exit the channel.  
The sail back was a really nice four knot downwind cruise.  Just one gybe.  

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