Century Club: Tom Dean

Cool day - Lower 50's with winds out of the North West - the forecast said 5-10, but it seemed much more like just 5 or less knots of wind. Barometer was 30.19 and steady. Since I have been sailing since February - I had noticed that the wind instruments didn't really seem all that accurate, so I decided to investigate a bit and found that I had the ability to calibrate the wind instruments! So, I took Bubbles out of the slip, and under power took her out into Langford Creek. I put her into the wind and made some adjustments to the wind indicator... discovered that it was off about 14 degrees (which explains why I could sail 30 degrees to the wind on a starboard tack, but only 50 degrees on a port tack!). Adjusted at several speeds - for accuracy. After that, I adjusted the speed indicator as it was showing that Bubbles was doing 8 knots at times (sorta impossible for a sailboat with only 25 feet water length!). Did that at several speeds and also discovered that I could reset it to speed over ground since the new AIS system incorporates GPS which is linked to the sea talk NG network. After finishing, headed back to the marina and put Bubbles down for the evening!

Got to the marina a bit late - had some things to do in the morning first, but when we got there - nice and sunny, 65 degrees with a nice wind from the WNW I didn't think it warranted a small craft advisory - winds less than 10 knots - but later in the afternoon there was plenty of reason for the small craft advisory.. Pulled out of the slip a little after 1pm and headed off with the 1st mate at the helm. Got the sails up pretty quickly as the winds were very favorable for sailing right down Langford Creek. Had a real nice run - averaging about 5 knots - on a close reach all the way down to the  buoys outside of Queenstown. At first had a reef in the front sail - just to make it comfortable, but the winds started to die off, so we let out the full Genoa, which helped with speed.  Noticed a strong front - turned out to be a cold front - moving in to the area with some dark clouds, so we decided to head back, still under full sail. The front passed, got a bit chillier and nothing else - until, the winds picked up significantly! We were starting to see gust of about 20 knots and sustained right about 14. We reefed in the headsail - and I thought about going out on deck to reef the main, but instead we just depowered it and had a nice quick run all the way back to the marina - averaging over 5 knots once the winds hit! Got back in the slip about 6pm - so unfortunately, we missed the Upper Chesapeake Sailing meet up at Elk River Brewing ☹️.

A nice day out on the water - and the great thing was that we, as a crew, managed the weather nicely without the first mate getting paralyzed with fear - something that wouldn't have been possible a year ago!

Got to the marina early - while it was still a chilly 53 degrees, so I decided that I had time to tighten the rudder stuffing box (leaking a wee bit) before shoving off. Got that done in short order and then got the boat ready for sailing - and was out of the slip by 10am. Barometer was holding at 30.09. Not a cloud in the sky when I took off, with temperatures in the upper 50's.  Clouds - high upper level ones started coming in as the day progressed.

Got the sails up quickly - had to dodge a crab boat setting some kind of traps on Langford Creek. Winds started out strong, so I had the Genoa reefed, but the winds grew lighter as the day wore on. Not only did the wind die off, but it was once again quite swirly - mostly out of the southwest - but some more westerly breezes too - especially the gusts. Was running pretty much close hauled and some close reach so I could keep speed up in some light breezes - down to 3 and 4 knots at times. Bubbles did well - trying to stay matched in speed with the breeze - but it was slow - and a bit of a slog going into the wind. Made it down a little past Piney Neck - when I decided to turn back. I decided that the light air Gennaker (Jenny) was the sail to use, so I rolled in the Genoa, dropped the main and raised the asymmetrical spinnaker. Took off like a shot - was doing a good 5+ knots all the way back to the marina.  A nice day - only one pops on my part.  Trying to douse the gennaker - I forgot to uncleat the dousing line.... couldn't figure out why it wouldn't douse... until I did. Oh, well, something new not to forget next time!

This was the day to finish up the transom - cleaning off and adding our bubble decals.  First mate (with some help from the captain) got to work and had the new decals up in short order! Ate lunch in the slip - and even though the wind was only 3 knots, we were determined to go out. We headed out and found the wind even in the creek was at about 3 knots - and using the binoculars to scan the horizon, it seemed that the water in the Chester was flat, so the first mate who was at the helm, decided to turn towards Cacaway Island where we would anchor for a bit. There was another boat out there also, but we stayed our distance.  Once we were anchored, we did some chores and then I noticed that the wind was starting to pick up. Kept an eye on that as I continued to mull about and eventually it seemed we had a sustained 8 knot wind - so we put up the main, tried to sail off the anchor (but the first mate was having issues with that) so we turned on the engine to get the anchor up and then sailed - close hauled - down to the mouth of Langford Creek, before dropping the main and running back up the creek to our home port - Lankford Crreek marina. Had a nice 1-1/2 hour sail that was unexpected!  Winds out of the south - temps in the mid 70's.