Should be more like "planning" practice. Had to go back to RAINBOW, having left some electronics and stuff on board. I'm getting used to multiple trips out to retreive forgotten items.
I've heard you can make a list....
Did get the oportunity to install a new standing bullet block, so at least something got accomplished!
I picked up RAINBOW (thanks Morty!) for one simple reason: the i550 was fun but a total PITA to singlehand. It was way too fussy and constant vigilance was mandatory. It was tiresome to singlehand for more than an hour and waaaaaay too easy to become an MOB and watch the boat sail away (never happened, but again, only due to a high level of paying attention).
The solution was RAINBOW.
I hadn't gotten a chance to singlehand last season, as the slip was too narrow (and shallow) to deal with getting the boat in and out, plus I was killing a lot of time with getting the i550 sold. So, yesterday I motored around the corner and anchored inside the breakwater to get the sails hanked on and put a reef in the main. It was blowing 8-18 and I wanted an easy test sail, not a lot of work. I went with the jib-top and sinlge reef and it was PERFECT.
Plus I got a chance to try the autopilot and, while there is a learning curve, after a few unintended tacks, I got it sussed to the point where I could trust it. 8 - 18 is a task for a lot of the older generation Ottos and this also meant 25-30 degree veloctiy headers and cold air windshifts, so I got used to switching it OFF and quickly disengaging it. But the thing is pure gold for setting an anchor or docking below for food and refreshments.
Saw most of the racing fleet headed out and INCOMMUNICADO was nice enough to circle around, take a photo and razz me about the anchor bucket I was too lazy to stow once I got underway. The SPINSHEET pennant is pretty pimpin' though!
^ sorry, couldn't resist.
I've been lucky enough to do some of the classic yacht races in Maine over the past 5 years or so, and I should be more dialed-in to the drill where it comes to Boats on Moorings.
But I'm not.
The thing about moorings is: try to minimize the number of times you have to return to shore because you forgot something critical to the mission.
Yesterday was a good lesson. Only took a few times.
So make a list and check it twice. Check it three times. You'll still forget something. But at least rowing is good exercsie.
Got RAINBOW out on a mooring and then raced on Inc for MRSA's first of the season. I think we took 2nd. Absolutely gorgeous evening and a nice tribute to a former crew member who crossed the bar a few weeks ago.
Checked the epoxy job from last time and also covered the exterior repair area with a layer of e-glass, which was a PITA because it was windy, but it got done and actually looks pretty good. Also did a sail inventory, as it had been a while and a winter's few months had erased whatever knowledge I'd gained last season -- frankly I was clueless as to what was in each bag and there are quite a few of them. So sails got laid out on the lawn at the club and the bags got temporary labels. I am set for 4 to 35 kn no doubt about it.
Think I'll pass on the 35 though.
I'm impressed by the ospreys in the creek and their fishing skills. Drifted in right beneath a tree and watched seahawk annihilate another shad, or a big herring. I figure from the size of this gill cover (operculum) that it had to be a hickory shad. The knife blade is 3.25 inches.
One distressing thing was how long it took the fish to expire. The osprey took at least ten minutes+ to systematically tear the poor creature apart while the fish flapped and struggled. I went in later, beneath the tree, to see what had been discarded, hoping the fish carcass was there, for further I.D., but it was just scales and other parts. No positive I.D. as to herring or shad though.
Devised a scheme to press & epoxy new ply up into the deck layup. I bought a spare scissors jack years ago when I was building the i550. It's amazing how handy this thing is in various projects. Of course, the weather didn't cooperate - the air temp was about 48, but below it was 60 and that's usually OK. Pre-heated the resin and hardener by leaving it in the car in a sunny spot and letting the greenhouse bump the temp up to approx 75. I think the pox fully kicked by the time I left the boat around 6pm.
Nearby tree had an osprey with what looks like a hickory shad it was munching on....for hours. I swear, the bird hardly moved for 4-5 hours and was still there when I left. So was the shad. I got the impression the bird was just showing off what a skilled hunter it is. Like, "look what I caught, aren't you envious?"
I think birds think this way.
Got in a paddle for lunch and had another go at scraping the remaining barnacles and barnacle residue off the mooring pennant.
Looked at my mooring last week from the POV of a kayaker in strong breeze. It was a mess and I had no tools (or desire, for that matter) to clean it up.
So this time I paddled out with paint scraper, wire brush and heavy duty work gloves to dig intio the issue. Got it looking decent, at least it won't drip nasty stuff all over my bow when I finally take RAINBOW out there.
Finished up getting the bad ply out of the forward section. Next step: new ply and epoxy with upward pressure pushing it in place supplied by a 2x4 on a car jack.
The club has a bunch of floating docks that nature deams necessary to destroy regularly.
So new ones have to be built and launched and fitted once the old derelict ones are towed out of position. You'd be surprised how tricky it is to fit a bunch of right-angle pieces together. Folks have to be added and subtracted to achieve the right ballast to get the attachment pieces to fit together and then pinned in place.
PSA is lucky to have a crew of members who have the skills and knowledge to buld, position and secure these things. Sounds easy, but it isn't.
Same drill.
Attack rotten ply core, paint & install new head floor, and paddle out to the cove (in the lee of shore) for lunch. I also got a look at my mooring for 2025 and it needs work. It's coated with slime and barnacles. Before I move RAINBOW I have to clean this thing up.
Ospreys have shown up in force and one hung out about 50 feet away, squawking constantly and competing with crows and kin for a coveted spot in the nearby trees.
On a down note, I laid-up some epoxy/e-glass in two or three leaky spots cockpit hatch spots. It never got as warm and I'd expected and I had to leave with the stuff still un-kicked. I like to babysit epoxy lay ups when they've almost fully kicked, to smooth them out (tool of choice: human thumb dipped in human saliva) but this wasn't possible as the stuff was still too gooey. Fingers crossed.
Oh. And we now have a legal bathroom.
Got a 3-day hall pass to work and live on the boat and paddle as paint dried and epoxy kicked. Conditions varied from a calm sunset excursion into the cove's backwater swamp, and then the next day of relative normalcy (water in the creek!) and then all hell breaking loose on Thurs as a "smokin' southerly' built to 40 kn.
Luckily, got a paddle in around noon, reached the point that separates the fairway out to the river and said, "nuh-uh, ain't going any farther," as puffs to 30 were very hard to paddle into and the chop was coming over the bow once in a while. This is while still in the creek!
So I bailed. And then it got windy.
On a mission to rid the below-decks wood of any moisture/rot. Installed a new hatch structure and got it tabbed in with a yard of 3" biax tape against the hull layup, so that should last another 20 years.
What's also gone is: the old head. It was illegal as it was a direct discharge via a thru-hull and with my luck, I was sure to get boarded and fined by one of the many wonderful regulatory agencies on the bay. Porta-potty arriving tomorrow. Yay!
Great and very productive three days in mid-March. Heck, I'll take it, noisy ospreys and all.