There was not much wind this week, so I took the opportunity to work on that leaking fuel issue and so some other general maintenance like adding more stuffing to the rudder stuffing box and tightening that! I did get out Thursday - wasn’t supposed to be any wind, but I found some. Wind was out of the SSW at 5-10, Barometer set at 30.10 and it was mostly cloudy. Finished the engine work at 1:30 and headed out. Got the sails up quick as I normally do and got the engine off - sailing down Langford creek. Went out into the Chester and just had some fun sailing before turning and heading back up the creek to the marina. Made it most of the way up the creek before the winds went to 2 knots and there was just no sailing…. Got the engine on, dropped sails and was back in the slip by 4:00. An unexpected sailing day - but a fun one after doing the work!
Century Club: Tom Dean
Temperatures were 67-75, Barometer was sitting at 30.15, Partly Sunny skies with the wind 5-10 knots out of the north. Today, the first mate again took the helm and instead of heading anywhere in particular, she just worked on her skills at different points of sail. She is still having problems pointing, but all other points of sail seem to go well for her - she just isn’t quite getting what the helm is doing - weather or lee helm - and how to steer the boat so that she takes advantage of that knowledge. Mind you, it’s better, but still have a ways to go. I manned the sails and tried to help tutor her through it. All in all - a great day of sailing!
Temperatures were between 63-71 during our sail. Barometer was at 30.15 with the wind at 10 knots + with some gusts. There was a small craft advisory out. it was mostly cloudy with some sun sneaking through at times. First mate took the helm from the beginning , got the sails up quickly and I took care of managing the sails. We headed down Langford Creek and into the Chester and to make it more comfortable for the first mate, we decided to head up the Chester - allowing the land to block some of the wind. Headed up towards Cliff's Point - first mate did a nice job getting her through that narrow area and then we continued on. Decided to drop the anchor at Conquest Beach (no one else was around) for lunch and then we set sail to return. Left the marina about 10 am and didn't get back until 5! Lovely day and the first mate continued to work on her skills at the helm!
Well, an almost identical sail to Wednesdays sail. Wind out of the NE 10+ knots, Cloudy, cool 63-68, Barometer 30.17. Got out a bit earlier, sails up, and headed down the creek to the Chester and headed up towards Conquest Beach... trying to get the best angle, speed and time up through the narrows at Cliff's Point. Did it a bit faster today - shorter tacks. Had to dodge a lot of crab boats though! Like Wednesday, was able to sail back up the creek and almost into the marina before dropping sails and turning on the engine. Another fun sailing day!!
Temperature was 63-79, Barometer was 30.19 and it was mostly cloudy with winds out of the NE at 10 knots. Got out of the slip at 10:30 and got the sails up quickly as usual. Headed down into the Chester and decided to head down towards Kent Island. Stayed on a broad reach on the way down - made pretty good time, then turned around to head back. Stayed between a close haul and a close reach on the way back with the centerboard all the way down. Got back into the slip about 3:30 and got her tucked away and headed home for the evening. Friday, I was going to tackle the leaking fuel issue, hopefully resolve that since little to no wind predicted. Was going to play with it today - as the predictions were for less than 5 knots - but with it blowing 10 knots - wasn't about to give up a day of sailing! No pictures today!
Small Craft Advsory - Winds 10-15 knots out of the North East. Barmeter was 30.28 and falling. Temp was 62-68 and it started out cloudy but became mostly sunny. Left the dock at 11 and got back in at 4.
Had sails up quick as I usually do - putting them up before reaching daymark 7 in the creek. Headed down under sail and out into the Chester. Decided to head up the Chester and really practice working my angles and tacking to get the best speed and distance while trying to go through a narrow area - Cliff's point. Got up the river a considerable bit - beating for the most part - before turning and heading home. Had the Genoa reefed to a jib and on the way back, put out the Whisker Pole as I was heading downwind. Worked great. Had a lovely sail and the boat handled great - had her well balanced.
Had to do a bit of engine work - found that I had a diesel leak. Got that squared away and then afterwards went out for a bit to "test" the fix. Had some fun and also took the time to calibrate the wind instruments a bit. Didn't get out of Langford creek - but had some fun before heading back in!.
The forecast was for some nice winds.... right around 10 knots or so for most of the day so I headed off to the marina for a fun day. Got to the marina about 10 and was out of the slip by 10:30. Temperature was 67, winds were 10 knots with some gusts and the barometer was 30.00 and steady. Sunny to partly cloudy skies. There was a small craft advisory until 11 - which was extended to 1 pm.
Headed out, got the sails up before daymark 7 and headed down Langford creek to the Chester. Decided to go for a longer sail - so I headed right down the Chester and kept going around Eastern Neck Island. After 2 hours of sailing I was right at the entrance to Kent Narrows which is when I decided to turn around and head back. I was averaging about 5 knots most of the way down with a close reach/beam reach. Had to go to close haul once around eastern neck though.
Heading back - all was good. Was first on a broad reach until I made the turn at the Chester river buoy 11 and then I was between a close reach and a beam reach most of the way up. When I got parallel to Eastern Neck Narrows, the winds started to pick up significantly - was seeing 16, 17, even 20 knots.... so it got a bit exciting. I reefed the headsail which made everything a bit more comfortable and I was able to keep the sail up all the way to daymark 7 in Langford creek before turning, dropping the sails and heading into the marina.
A lovely 4 hour sail!
Moving along!!
Back of first mate handling the helm.
Spent the entire weekend sailing with the first mate. Got out early on Saturday, throwing off the lines about 10 on a beautiful sunny day. Winds were forecast to be 10 knots out of the north with waves of 1 foot. Ended up with less waves since the tide was going out - but the winds were a bit more than 10 knots the entire day. First mate took the helm as we sailed around the Chester River basin from Langford creek to Eastern Neck Island, back up the Chester, around Grays Inn Creek, over to Reed Creek and the Corsica before repeating several times. Mainly stayed on reaches - close and beam, but also some close hauling! This was really the first time the first mate had really taken the helm in heavier weather and she did wonderful. Sailed up to Cacaway and anchored there. On Sunday morning, I saw that the forecast had changed and they were predicting some wind (and rain) starting at 11, so we had the sails up and were heading out by 10! It was a bit windier than what the NWS had predicted. We had winds well above 10 with some gusts getting close 20. First mage still at the helm doing another fine job. We added running to her sailing arsenal along with practicing close hauls, beam and close reaches. REally a great sailing weekend - and on Saturday a lot of other sailboaters evidently though so too - haven't seen that many sailboats in the Chester all year!
Had two crabbing episodes... On Saturday, didn't notice and ran over a waterman's marker. It evidently got caught on our centerboard (that I had forgot was down). He was very forgiving and cut his line instead of having me jump int he water.
Sunday - had two knuckleheads out there start yelling and screaming at us because we sailed by their marker - even though we were well over 100 feet from it and them - guessing they were having a bad day with their catch. Just two total jerks who evidently don't know the rules or have any courtesy at all.
Hit my 100th day of sailing on my boat for 2023 on Saturday! I have really learned a lot in those 300+ hours
There was a Small Craft Advisory with projected winds out of the North 10-15 with gusts up to 25... but I noticed it was projected that things would ease off a bit in the afternoon, so did some other projects before taking off from the dock at 1 pm and I found that it wan't nearly as bad as it had been called for - but I still reefed the Genoa and put 1 reef in the main and was very comfortable the entire time! Sailed in 70 degree weather heading up the Chester so that I had some land blocking the wind. Very comfortable and fun sail! Got the sails up quick (as usual) and sailed all the way back up the creek to end up a great sailing day!. Got back to the marina about 4:30 - just in time to run into town for some groceries and then cook dinner for the first mate.