A nice west breeze made for pleasant sailing today. Headed out to Fort Wool where for a while the wind died for about 10 minutes before returning and carrying me back home.
Century Club: George Hernandez
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
Across the channel to Tidewater Marine on Sunset Creek in Hampton. My neighbor Eris joined me for the ride.
On the return the winds had increased to 17 knots with one gust of 23. Normally I would have put in one reef but the boat was handling this quite well. Eris quickly got the feel for dealing with the gusty conditions and tacking upwind through the narrow channel entering Willoughby Bay.
Sunday, July 26, 2026 to Monday, July 27, 2026
Number of days:
2 days
A light wind day. Perfect for some relaxing sailing. My marina neighbor Eris joined me for a trip out to the James River then around Swells Bar and back to Willoughby. The winds were ENE and almost aligned with the narrow channel past Swells Point so it took about 5 tacks to get through. Of course we could have started the diesel but I see that as whimping out...
After dropping Eris off I continued upwing to the east end of Willoughby for the night. Perfect sleeping weather with the temp dropping to near 70 by bedtime.
Halfway on the one mile sail back to the marina the west wind dropped to under 3 knots. Time for the diesel...
Sunday, July 19, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
I forgot to enter this one!
It was a light day. The only kind of day I've been going out on since I discovered a minor issue with the mast a couple weeks back. Hopefully this Tuesday my rigger will check this out and I can return to normal sailing and cruising. Seems like summer is flying by with me hardly going anywhere...
Friday, July 17, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
...from Canadian wildfires. Pretty darn hot as well! However, quite pleasant on the water with a northeast breeze around 10 kn
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 to Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Number of days:
2 days
With a gentle NE breeze I stayed close just sailing back and forth on Willoughby Bay in the late afternoon. I anchored on the east end for the night. Smoke from distant fires was visible darkening the northern half of the sky. Nice temperature for sleeping unlike the next few days with near 100°...
Thursday, July 9, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
A mostly cloudy and humid morning with a 10 knot ESE breeze.
Raising the sail the halyard hung up. I went forward and pulled it down checking that the sail wasn't hung up. Second try same thing. Following the halyard up the mast I could see it had been blown around the front of the mast and was hung up on a bolt connecting the upper and lower mast sections. A bolt that had apparently backed out enough to snag the line. Back to the dock for some pictures to text to my rigger...
Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
Originally the plan was to move my solar panels lower on the back of the boat. But, it was just too hot for a project I realized was going to take some time. Instead I motored out and had a snack while floating along in a southwest breeze.
Sunday, July 5, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
Arriving at the marina there was a light breeze. Enough to move the boat around Willoughby Bay and help cool me. My marina neighbor was supposed to sail with me, but decided to take care of a few things instead.
Good choice!
Once out of the marina and the sail was up, the breeze quickly came to a stop. Occasionally there were some ripples on the water, but only enough to move me around at 0.6 knots. Baking in the 95° sun with little air movement within about 30 minutes I'd had enough and motored back in.
Saturday, July 4, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
Early morning sailing to beat the heat of the day.
Once back in Willoughby Bay I dropped the sail and cooked breakfast to enjoy out in the cockpit.