Light air eight and change nm race around a triangle course of gov't marks. I think we saw 7 kn of breeze. Maybe. There was a lot of jib jail, that means lying down on the leeward rail staring at a gray wall of genoa material. But we kept the boat moving and to me, that's the way to win drifters...just. Keep. It. Moving.
Later the sun came out and we retired to the PSA dock for post-race chitter chatter. Nice day!
Got a quick paddle in with the tide way up high. Went to the backwaters of the creek very quietly and had a muskrat approach the boat to within 5-6 feet and I made a little noise and the critter did an abrupt U-turn and disappeared into the marsh.
MRSA race #2 was our first and there was rust. An OCS, and some flubs on the line-handling end. To be sure, we were shorthanded at six up and folks had to do jobs they haven't done in more than 6 or 7 months.
And yeah, there was rust. :-)
I'll take a "boat work" day! Got the bottom nicely prepared, 600 wet, 900 wet and 1200 wet in some forward areas. Perfect day for wet sanding. And cleaning the deck and house.
Fun night! Five people on an 18 foot powerboat (thanks Patrick!) doing race committee. It went well. Well, sorta. We got three windshifts before the Warning so AP and Foxtrot were up quite while. Finally the WNW breeze settled nicely into the SSE and we set a course for 2 laps.
During the first manuever to up anchor and move the line, I pulled the rode and chain to the boat, remarking on how light the anchor was...well, of course it was, it was gone!
See photo and this is why I hate those anchor chains that have a plastic coating. The coating chafes away, water penetrates and then, with no ability to inspect due to the aforementioned plastic coating, your anchor says buh-bye.
We were able to borrow an anchor from one of the competitors and after that, things went swimmingly.
Felt like summer. Tried to finish waxing the topsides but hey it was too hot. Went out for perch and wasn't bothered with any bites. Then a 40 minute drive to a spot I could have paddled to in 30 minutes (N. Ferry Pt to S. Ferry Pt)
Got some things done with Ed on Incommunicado.
Paddle sandwich.
Threw everything I own in the car in terms of boat cleaning, waxing etc. Except: forgot the bag of clean rags. So, I decided: just getting half the boat done was progress. Plus it served as an excellent reminder of why owning an 18 foot sailboat sure beats owning a 32 footer, at least when it comes to this particular chore.
I was sore enough as it was.
Waiting for the boat to dry after the initial scrub down, I took a rod and reel out and made a few desultory casts. Nothin' doing. Which was fine.
Finally, put boat work supplies away and went up to the club's deck to do some work and wait for the storms to roll in. Eventually they did, but there was no reason to have postponed the Oriole game, a full 24 hours in advance. There's nothing certain about a forecast four days out and I guess this year we can knock that down to 24 hours. All the panic about this front passing through...and it turned out to be pretty much of a non-event.
I guess the various high wind events over the past week or two must've scrubbed off people's piers and decks because I was only out for an hour and picked up a LOT of trash, including one dock fender, one boat fender, one short run of regular hose and 50 feet crinkle hose. PM me if any of it is yours. Otherwise, figure on a slightly cleaner creek, as if this would put a dent in the sheer tons of plastic crap lining the shore.
Had a nice lunch in the wind though! Man, there are so many ospreys on the river now, it's ridiculous.
Beautiful partly cloudy day.
Figured on putting a couple of hours on the O/B, maybe over to the south side of Ferry Pt., but once in the river it was obvious that the 8-10 kn ESE in the creek was more like 12-14 SE in the river, with a short period chop. My flat bottom boat hates this kind of chop and the pounding causes a slamming vibration that runs through the boat from stem to stern. Plus with the water temps still in the high 40s-low 50s, it really wasn't too safe on a boat with no lifelines.
So I chickened out and went back into the creek, found a lunch spot out of the breeze and watched the ospreys do their thing. There were three of them trying to roost or nest or mate in the trees on the narrow neck and they were making quite a racket, so much that a nap was out of the question.
Outboard ran great and seems to have survived ethanol clogging from being relatively stationary all winter.
Went down to the club to see if the O/B would start, but like a total idiot, I forgot to bring the O/B bracket so that wasn't about to happen. Luckily I "borrowed" a dinghy transom and the motor started, ran well and might be ready for the season. While at the dock, we noticed quite a few Lion's Mane jellyfish. I went out in a kayak to fish and ended up being distracted by trying to get decent photos of the medusae. I left the lure dangling a few feet off the bow of the kayak, and of course, that's when a brave pickerel nailed the lure and it was strictly a matter of luck that I did not drop the iPhone into the creek!
Beautiful spring-like day and the ospreys are back with a vengeance!
Rain sort of let up during and after a club "small boat" meeting. So I figured what the heck, may as well paddle a bit. Of course, the intermmittent rain returned along with a persistant drizzle, which was more annoying than the rain. Stiill, the light was wonderful and many birds have returned including a pair of mating Ospreys that were determined to make every turn I was planning to make and then complaining noisily when I "followed" them. And a sinlge Great Blue perched eerily on a log in the middle of the creek. It reamined so motionless as I approached, I was wondering if it was a gag bird someone had nailed to a board for entertainment purposes.