Century Club: Tom Dean

Mostly Sunny 70 - 73 degrees with the barometer 30.23 and steady. Got to the marina before lunch, but had some work to do - had to check the water in the batteries and do a bit of cleaning before I could have some fun! Got out of the slip about 1:30.  Winds were out of the north 5-10 and slowly building throughout the day. Had to keep the engine on a bit longer than I wanted - some other boats in the way, but once I got to the mouth of the Creek and the Chester - was off an running with full sails! Cruised around the basin for a couple hours before heading back.  Lovely day, and a lovely sail!!

After a Ferko family day up in PA, we hit the boat again on Tuesday the 23rd for what we thought would be the final family sail for the week (younger daughter set to leave that evening), Sunny again, 68 - mid 70's. Barometer 29.91 and holding steady.  Winds were forecast to be out of the East 5-10... but they were NOT, instead, the winds were coming out of the South West and were kicking up a bit.  We initially started with just a reefed headsail... just rolled her up to the size of Jib, but later in the day we dropped the mainsail down a bit to put a reef in her - just to make it a more comfortable ride - and it was.  Saw wind speeds in the upper teens!  Sailed around the basin...  as we had to be back in to the dock by about 3pm or so.  We were hoping to at least catch a glimpse of the Blue Angels doing their practice - and lo and behold... a little after 1 we did see four of them fly by in formation... but that is all that we saw. Had a lovely day out.... oldest daughter helped putting up and down sails/rolling them up. Both girls took turns pulling and setting sheets too.  Again, with so many on board didn't get any pictures of the sail - only the crew at the end!

Got to the marina and immediately got Bubbles ready to head out. Partly sunny skies/partly cloudy, temperatures in the upper 60's low 70's. Barometer was unchanged from yesterday - 30.15, but started falling. Headed out about 10:30 am and got the sails up fairly quickly as I was heading down Langford creek - cut the engine off soon after the sails were up. Had to avoid a crab boat that was out fishing.... and anchored right in the channel (who does stupid things like that?? And WHY??).

Stayed on close haul, beating in to the wind down the Chester towards Kent Island - and was making good speed considering all the hobbyhorsing that Bubbles was doing through the 1 foot + chop. Winds were out of the Southwest - South (every once in a while a wind shift) right around 10 knots... with a few gusts.  Had the headsail reefed, but had out the full main.  Wind started to fall away a bit the closer I got to Kent Island, so I rolled out the rest of the Genoa/headsail - and wouldn't you know it... the wind picked up right about then. About 2pm the wind fell away a bit and was down to about 7 knots and it was time for me to head back - so I threw up the Gennaker and flew back up the Chester... passing other sailboats who were going in the same direction, but were on broad reaches or running... with their headsails hanging limp.

Once I got to Langford Creek - the winds picked up a bit, as they always do (it seems) but then I had some other obstacles in my way. There was a small sailboat just going back and forth - I think out of the Rock Hall Yacht Club and while friendly enough, he seemed to want to get close and see up close.  At that point, the wind shifted a bit, so I had to jibe and put the Gennaker on the other side... that seemed to scare him off quickly. After I rounded the last day mark in the creek, I spied yet another small sailboat just having fun, but also very interested in me, getting dangerously close as I was trying to head towards the marina while trying to avoid the little sailboat and not point any higher than a beam reach! Finally, he did clear out, I turned to running and dropped the gennaker and headed in. A lovely day and a lovely 5 hour sail.  I really like it when I can use all of the sails! 

Got to the marina and decided to take off right away. Good wind - blowing 5 - 10 out of the southwest - no real gusts. Barometer 29.84 and pretty steady through the day. Temperature was 67 at time of departure and warmed to 76. Got the mainsail up fairly quickly - right around the first marker on Langford creek. Waited to tack before putting out genoa. Started to feel a bit overpowered - healing up to 15 degrees with some weather helm, so I reduced the headsail down to a jib size and that did the trick.  Used the sutopilot quite a bit - and it did very well with this wind.  Anything lighter and it just goes nuts  (when going to s wind direction instead of a compass heading). Passed my dock neighbor - second wind - who was out having some fun before I headed down towards Queenstown. Decided to come back on a broad reach which went fast! Going to have to try and rig a boom bang and see if that makes a difference. Lovely sail - was out from 20:30 until 3:30!