For the 4th race in the 2nd series of Round Bay Sailing Association's season, we were Race Committee. Although winds were projected to be 3-5 and dying, they were 4-8 throughout the evening, so we were able to start the race at 6:17 and have the last boat cross the line at a little after 8p.m, with plenty of light left in the evening. Set the course of A to C to A to V and back to A, but shortened it to V, since the wind was still projected to die. The wind was unusually even as the boats headed down the course, so they split evenly on port and starboard instead of favoring port, as usual. Watching them come back to us with their spinnakers in full flower was such a beautiful sight -- which we watched until it was time to head to V and to let the fleet know on VHF that we were shortening the course. The wind did not die, as predicted, so the boats were able to make it to V, and no one was TLE, though one boat left the course and was DNF. Another beautiful evening with no rain, and only 75 degrees warm, so it was lovely!
Century Club: Richard Turman
My wonderful daughter bought us two tickets for the Father's Day sail on the Pride of Baltimore II, the 157' wooden replica square-topmast-rigged schooner based in Baltimore. Such a beautiful vessel, and with such a spiderweb of rigging. Arrived in the area a tad early and easily snagged street parking in Fells Point, and got to Pride about ten minutes before 10. 6 crew and about 25 passengers don't feel at all crowded on a deck that's 100' long and 26' wide, and within just a few minutes of motoring away from the dock the crew had three sails up and bearing. Wind was unfortunately light (3-5 mph) for most of the trip out of Baltimore Harbor, filling in only about 11:20, and they had to turn us around and turn on the engine at about 11:40. But a truly glorious voyage it was, and such a treat to have my daughter pick it out as a Father's Day gift -- couldn't have been a better place to be with her. And while passengers don't get to steer, we did get to haul lines to raise the sails, so we did have something to do. And Pride arranges for an NPS historian to accompany the voyages, so we got to hear much about the history of Balimore Harbor on the way out and back, with special emphasis on Ft. McHenry and the War of 1812 -- all wonderfully told while we slowly sailed the sights. Beautiful!
Quite a day on the water. Left the Annapolis Yacht Club dock about 9:45 to head out to the race area. Had a good chance to find the race marks and get oriented to the course. Wind was higher than predicted -- more like 10-12 than 5-9, though since it was from the West the closer we came to the upwind mark the less wind there was, since the mark was not that far off the land. Great to be out with my fellow Harbor 20 racers, rather than with my normal mixed fleet of J-boats, Catalinas, 39-40 footers, trimarans, and Johnson 18's. That said, i muffed the first start, and never did catch up in the first race. After a tasty PBJ between races, had a much better start the second race, and even crossed ahead of other boats on our way through the first upwind, but were behind by the time we got to the weather mark, and didn't catch up going downwind. Had some sprinkles during the 2nd race, but were happy the races kept going. Had the best start of the day on the third race, but didn't end up faring well at all, in the end. As it was by now 1:30, and T-storms were predicted for 4-5 pm, we took off north to sail the 7.5 miles back home, hoping to beat the weather. Motor-sailed all the way across Annapolis' harbor and up the Narrows until we got to Round Bay, which we sailed across. As we neared its northern end, the wind died, and we put the Torqueedo on again, arriving back at the dock with 17% power remaining -- just enough! We got home about 4 p.m., for about 6 1/4 hours on the water straight, without a break, nor relief. But a beautiful day on the water it was, and a great chance to bond all day with my brother!
Quite a day on the water. Left the Annapolis Yacht Club dock about 9:45 to head out to the race area. Had a good chance to find the race marks and get oriented to the course. Wind was higher than predicted -- more like 10-12 than 5-9, though since it was from the West the closer we came to the upwind mark the less wind there was, since the mark was not that far off the land. Great to be out with my fellow Harbor 20 racers, rather than with my normal mixed fleet of J-boats, Catalinas, 39-40 footers, trimarans, and Johnson 18's. That said, i muffed the first start, and never did catch up in the first race. After a tasty PBJ between races, had a much better start the second race, and even crossed ahead of other boats on our way through the first upwind, but were behind by the time we got to the weather mark, and didn't catch up going downwind. Had some sprinkles during the 2nd race, but were happy the races kept going. Had the best start of the day on the third race, but didn't end up faring well at all, in the end. As it was by now 1:30, and T-storms were predicted for 4-5 pm, we took off north to sail the 7.5 miles back home, hoping to beat the weather. Motor-sailed all the way across Annapolis' harbor and up the Narrows until we got to Round Bay, which we sailed across. As we neared its northern end, the wind died, and we put the Torqueedo on again, arriving back at the dock with 17% power remaining -- just enough! We got home about 4 p.m., for about 6 1/4 hours on the water straight, without a break, nor relief. But a beautiful day on the water it was, and a great chance to bond all day with my brother!
Had to use my powerboat to tow my Harbor 20 sailboat from our home up the Severn River down to Annapolis on Friday night to be able to participate in Saturday's Leukemia Cup charity regatta. Wind was 12-15 mph from the South, which was easy to motor into but would have taken us forever to short-tack through to get to Annapolis -- hence the use of our powerboat to tow the sailboat. Everything proceeded fine until we got below the Naval Academy Bridge, whereupon the huge powerboat wakes reflected off the Naval Academy and bounced us all over the place, as if we were in a washing machine. Manuvered through the mooring fields, which were pretty full given that it was a warm Friday evening, but luckily Annapolis Yacht Club's Sailing Center was in a bit of a lull -- we arrived after the beer can racing started, but before they returned. Got our Harbor 20 battened down and then had a wonderful 30 mph run back up the Severn!
I've raced in Leukemia Cup every year since I started racing my Harbor 20 sailboat in 2015, and our fleet routinely gets 20+ boats on the line for this event. It is well-worth moving my Harbor 20 the seven miles down the Severn to the race area to be able to compete in a one-design fleet several times a year, but it takes advance logistical work. I have to use my powerboat to tow my sailboat boat down the night before, which this year was Friday, June 18. On Thursday, June 17 I had to go fill up my powerboat so it would have enough gas for the roundtrip -- since it only had 1/4 of a tank, not having filled up since August, 2020.
Had a nice evening ride down to Smith's Marina into 10-12 mph winds from the South, filled her up, and had a beautiful return run. A nice evening all around!
Third race of the 2nd series for the Round Bay Sailing Association. We had 10-15 mph winds from the West, which was not from that usual a direction and was pleasantly robust for mid-June. And it was only 80 degrees, with no rain! We luckily had 4 in the boat, my usual crew plus my brother who was visiting from MN. With gusts well about 15, it was great to have the fourth body on the upwind legs. We went from B to E to B to E and finished at B. Our spin runs actually went fairly well; we were not overpowered at all. We only ended up 12th out of 19 starters since the higher wind hit the sweet spots for the bigger boats in the fleet. But had a wonderful night!
Finally got off work around 7 p.m., and then got on the sailboat about 7:20. Since sunset today isn't until 8:50, that left plenty of time for sailing! Wind 7-9 from the South gave me more to work with than I'd expected, so I ran a course from E to B to V and back downwind to E. A beautiful evening out there, with no other sailboats and only 3-4 powerboats, so very little wakes. Delightful!
Didn't leave the dock until 7:30 p.m amidst cloudy skies and 10 mph winds from the S, but since sunset isn't until 8:30 these days, that was fine.
After riding out Valentine Creek to check out the Severn River, it was clearly better to stay in protected waters, so I headed back in and headed up Plum Creek.
The surprise came when I was passing a two-story dock where two young me (early 20's) were jumping off the second level, into the water. They flagged me down and one of them then said that he couldn't swim back to the Arden beach across the way, from whence he'd come, saying he was light-headed, and asked me to tow him. I said sure, and he hopped in the water and grabbed the web strap off the back of my kayak and I towed him to the beach. Guessing its about 200-250 yards or so.
The contrast between kayaking myself and doing it towing a 5'10" young man was remarkable. I'm glad I've built up some kayaking stamina, since all of a sudden it was really hard going. I felt like runners must feel with 20 pound weights strapped to their legs -- hard to go foward. We made it across, though, and once he could stand up in the shallow water of the beach, he was very, very appreciative.
I headed back and asked his buddy, who had recommenced diving off the second story of the dock, if he wanted a ride, but he declined. I went up to the headwaters of Plum Creek, and when I returned, he again said he didn't need a ride, but did jump into the water and start swimming. There were two powerboats headed into the creek at about this time, and given that it was about 8 p.m. under cloudy skies and he had dark hair, I was worried that the powerboats might not see him, so paddled right next to him for the duration of his swim.
Not the quiet evening paddle I'd expected!
Although it looked like we'd have a T-storm right before our 6:15 start, radar models showed that we'd be fine, so we headed out and the RC set up a good race on Round Bay to start off the end of Long Point, at Mark V. We headed off in 5 mph winds from the South, and five minutes into the race the wind picked up to 15-18 with higher gusts as we were headed to the bottom of Round Bay, to mark C. We hugged the starboard shore, and in the lee of the headland we were no longer over-powered, so had a good run up to C. After rounding the mark, we had to decide to go wing and wing or put up the spinnaker. After about 100 yards, we launched the spin, and hung on. The wind had moderated to around 10-12, so we had a good run down to A, sailing low angles and only having to jibe twice. Dropped the spin and had a good rounding at A, and then lost much of our wind as we headed up to C. Decent run back to A from C, coming over the line in the middle of the fleet.