Century Club: Richard Turman

To sell Fiona, I thought it made sense to have her hauled and powerwashed -- and get the barnacles removed.  I motor sailed over to Smiths on a Friday afternoon for a 12:30 appointment -- wind didn't help a lot, but it helped extend the battery's range.  

I was stunned at the size of the barnacles they scraped off.  Not just from her keel, but from her hull near the bow, all down the middle of her bottom.  Quarter to even silver-dollar-sized barnacles that stood off from the hull by a shocking 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.  I usually scrub the barnacles off once a month, but hadn't been able to since my back went out on July 5 this year, so they grew unimpeded.  No wonder my racing performance dropped so dramatically this year.  These buggers just kept growing and growing.

Sailing home Fiona was a much faster boat -- a nice time getting home!

with a bottle of wine.  Since it was red, of course I spilled it, but no harm done.  Once I got back to the dock, just after sunset, it gave me a good reason to wash the boat's floor, and luckily the red wine came right up!  Another beautiful evening, put-putting around, and listening to the Canada geese (noisily) flying south.

Big wind and rain kept us from racing on Wednesday night, and high water that night and the next morning pushed two of our dockboards up and off the dock.  I took the kayak out on thursday night for 40 minutes to look for them -- and found 1 of 2.  Hadn't been on the kayak in months, since my back had given out, and I was overjoyed that it didn't hurt my back.  My chest and arms were another matter, since I'd not been out for months.  A great evening on the water!

Woodwind II is a glorious 2-masted schooner, and my sister and I had a great time in 10-12 knots of breeze.  The skipper had the crew of 3 raise the main within about 100 yards of leavimg the dock, and once it was up, cut the engine and we were sailing.  Got the rest of the jibs, staysails, and fishermen up and the boat really took off.  Had a turn at the helm once we were out in the bay, and boy was she responsive and easy to steer.  Avoided the RC for a laser race, and then got to go through the tail end of a race by the Navy 44's with their spinnakers up.  A lovely afternoon it was to be out, and made it about to mid-bay before we had to turn back, so the boat could be back by the end of the 2 hour scheduled cruise.  Beautiful!