Century Club: Richard Turman
Had a delightful ride around the Valentine Creek and Plum Creek neighborhoods before heading down to Smith's Marina for 22 gallons of gas (in our 45 gallon tank), the first I've filled up since last fall.
Expected to have lots of wind, and with one crew not able to make it, found a back-up, since we were sure we needed more bodies. Turned out to be a light wind night, with 3 down and 1 up most of the evening. Did ok, not spectacularly but not badly. 5th out of 12.
Nothing like getting off of 3.5 hours on Amtrak and driving home and spending a nice quiet hour on a kayak on Valentine Creek!
Expected winds of 8kts and got 12knots, so had a boistrous upwind ride with my neighbor, who steered while I handled the sheets. Wonderful run up to Sherwood Forest, going up to 5.7 knots, and then over to Mark N, back to V, over to B, and then downind home. Dowsed the genoa and had a beer. Although boatspeed dropped from 4 to 2 knots, it was blissful to watch the sunset with the boat gliding along.
First time with my whole crew of 4. Last week with only two of us onboard, we declared non-spin, and used the genoa on the downwinds. Worked great. Came in 4th out of 12 by correcting over 4 boats. This week, light winds of 7-8 knots, and got squeezed out in the scrum at the start, with Flagfest below me and Winsome Ride above me. Tacked away for clear air, but better angle and wind would have been to stay on starboard. Lost ground to all the boats upwind, and while we gained a little on the spinnaker run, not enough to affect the outcome. Finished 7th out of 13. Jibes were ok until a catastrophic one about 200 yards from the finish. Absent that, we would have had a better outcome.
Got the team together, along with our trainer, so we could get the brand new spin bag sorted and practice our inside jibes. Had 11-12 knots of great wind from the South, so took off shortly after gathering at 5 and motored to the bottom of Round Bay and then had a great spin run down, with half a dozen jibes, and then came around and did it all again, with the spin being packed perfectly so we could fly it a second time round, this time with the genoa up. Worked great, as did the dowse at the end, with the genoa already up. Great progress on a beautiful night on the water. Even if it was 85 degrees when we left the dock.
Wonderful to wear shorts again whilst sailing. Nice 12-14 knot breeze from the South gave me a great ride, first following and passing a Hunter 26 and then an Aeleron 28. Cooking along at 5.3 knots upwind, on my ear. But delightful!
On the downwind, re-rigged the genoa leads to the spin blocks. Got back up to 5.3 knots, which was fun. Worked fine until time to jibe, and ended up getting my head whacked by the mainsheet apparatus as she came across. Knocked off my hat and glasses, but was able to finish the jibe. Needed to rest, so next tried to furl the genoa. Fouled the furler halfway in. Dropped main in a hurry, as headed towards land. Wrestled with the furler to try to get it unfouled, to no avail. Tried to wrap it up in genoa sheets, and only made some progress. Used engine to get home, with 1/4 of genoa flogging the whole time.
Once home at the dock was able to unfoul the genoa pretty easily, which was a relief.
A great ride until things went south on the way back. Left part of my head still a little sore. Still pretty exhilirating when I was out there going 5.3 upwind. Helped by bearing off to 38 degrees from 33 or so -- went from 4.4 knots to more like 4.9 or 5. And blissfully warm out there!
Met a sailor who has their J122e on a lift nearby, and chatted about the challenges of keeping our boats on lifts, Wednesday night racing, etc. Beautiful night out!