Dave, Paul, Josh and me raced in and (abridged) "Three Bridges" Race (8.3 NM). Dark Star and Arcas were spin boats, three non-spin boats raced a "Two Bridges" course. Light winds, 3 to 6 knots, that range from a beat to broad reach. Managed to fly the chute from Hains Point to Wilson Bridge however, it did collapse many times as the wind would suddenly shift forward. We achieved better results, I think, than using the Genoa. Dark Star clobbered us by 23 minutes.
Century Club: Hank Messick
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Streaking to the finish line
Catching Anne Marie
The fourth annual ODBC Regatta. More breeze than previous years, 5 to 8 knots. Just Sara, Paul, myself sailing nonspin. Beat everyone to the windward mark in all three races, line honors in two races and, second place overall. Anne Marie corrected ahead of us and took first.
Friday, September 5, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
The fifth and final race of the series. Paul, Josh, Bob, Dave, Brian and me onboard. Dark Star and Moovin also participated. Pursuit Start with us going first, something of novelty! Dark Star caught us after the windward mark and we both labored downwind against the current. Dark Star finished about 10 minutes ahead of us and, Moovin was 26 minutes behind us. Raced a 5.78 NM course with illumination provided by a waxing gibbous moon.
Saturday, August 30, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Party time
Adventure Over!
Anacostia bridges
Happy life!
Jake invited Paul and Maggie, Chris and Becca, Brian, Sara, Dana and me for a late afternoon boat ride on Juniper, his 37' Biloxi Trawler. Perfect weather. We were on the water for about four hours. Went up and back along the DC waterfront, then turned east and went up the Anacostia past the Frederick Douglas Bridge, past the Nats Stadium and the repurposed Navy Yard. A cloudless sunset kept us company on the return to the slip.
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Dana and I spent a few relaxing hours on the river. Sunny, low 80s, northerly breeze sometimes gusting to 12 knots. Beautiful weather.
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Frustrated faces!
Nice sunset!
Another dismal performance despite a good start. We can't keep up with the other boats upwind. Last by 24 minutes (corrected).
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Air Force Memorial “arcs” projected on the clouds
North Course w/a 6 knot easterly breeze that faded. Course took us up the Anacostia (4A) then back and around Hains Point (HP) then north around 4, twice. Just over six miles. We finish last. Good start but couldn't match the other spin boats for speed going upwind---the S2 7.9s accelerate more quickly and pull away from us. Frustrating.
Saturday, August 16, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Dave keeps the chute pulling.
Dave, Josh, Paul, and I went out on a hot Saturday afternoon to practice spin hoists/douses. Breeze was extremely light, a little over 3 knots. Had to keep the diesel running in order to get to patches of breeze. Overall it was a frustrating series of hoists and drops.
Hope we have better luck Tuesday when we return to spin fleet racing. Today was a step backwards.
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Going downwind, wing and wing. Miss my chute!
A happy helmsman!
The winning team!
Dave, Paul, Brian, Sara and, myself onboard. About a 7 knot SE breeze at the start that faded fast---six nonspin boats were TLE. We finished 12 minutes (corrected) in front of our nearest competitor, won the race and the series by a healthy margin.
we will race spin starting next week. Hope to carry over upwind skills and confidence learned during the last series against the much more competitive spin boats.