It was a gray, cold day for Opening Day on the Patuxent. Even still, the Barba Roja crew sailed well together.
Century Club: Bob Ohler
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
On a cool March 1 afternoon, the Skipper and I took the Barba Roja for a quick trip to the Solomon's Bridge and back. With a nice southerly breeze, with yours truly at the helm, we averaged 6.5 knots under just the genoa. We docked to see Jupiter and Venus in the western sky. Great sail, and great crew!
Monday, February 20, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
On what turned out to be a chilly afternoon and evening on the Patuxent River, Sailing Team Barba Roja got in some light-air sailing practice.
Sunday, February 5, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Winter sail 2/5/2023
On a February day, when it really wasn't too cold, team Barba Roja sailed sailed to the Solomons Bridge a couple of times. The gusty breeze blowing 15, provided the crew on BR a good practice day on the water. 2 hours, 11 nautical miles, with a top speed of 8 knots.
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Rocket launch 1/24/2023
Course records 1/24/2023
On a light-air afternoon/evening, with stars in their eyes, the crew onboard Barba Roja set out to see the rocket launch from Wallup's Island. We sailed out under main and jenny to the mouth of the Pax River. The crew enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches with rum chasers. While listening to the live feed from the launch site, we saw the launch and watched the rocket head out over the Atlantic. We headed back to the dock while attempting to warm our cold hands. 2:00 hours, 7.5 nm, 4.1 knots average speed.
Sunday, January 15, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
On what could best be described as a “brisk” day, Team Barba Roja took advantage of a northwesterly wind blowing 16 to 22 knots, and with it I logged day #1 on the water in 2023. We sailed out of the Patuxent into the Bay before tacking and sailing up the river to the bridge at Solomons, where we gybed and came south. The wind was favorable going into Back Creek where we sailed around Molly’s Leg Island up to Washburn’s before turning again and back to J Dock dock at Calvert Marina. The Strava app showed that we we traveled 18.9 nautical miles, with an average speed of 5.4 knots although we were seeing 7.8 to 8.2 knots when we were in the Bay. It was a great day of Winter Sailing!
Friday, December 30, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Pax River #101!
Pax River #101 12/30/2022
#101! Today, was the exclamation mark! After a few days of brutal cold, today it was in the low 60’s in Solomons, MD. I took full advantage of the mild temps and sailed on the Patuxent River. A couple of weeks ago, while fishing with my son, I hit 100 days on the water for 2022. On that day, I made the Spinsheet Century Club. Today, was very gratifying as well. The breeze was out of the southwest, blowing 7 to 12 knots. I sailed to the hangers at Pax River Naval Air Station, then north, and under the Solomons bridge before making the turn and heading for home. Put a star beside this one in the log book. Number 101 was a great sail!
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
#100!
With the help of my friends and Dave, my son, today I made it to 100 days on the water! Most of my days this year were sailing, onboard our Aloha Spirit and racing on Barba Roja. Throw in mornings in the kayak, going out withSteven Birchfield on the SMSA runabout, and today’s charter fishing on Miss Susie II, and I will have logged and made my first-ever Century Club. Thank you to everyone who helped me get there, especially after injuring my arm! I can't wait to go for Century Club next year!
Monday, December 5, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Number 99
Sailing solo for the first time since my arm injury, I took advantage of the easy sailing conditions and sailed out into the Patuxent. I protected my recovering arm and only used it to assist with steering. The wind was southeasterly at about 10 knots and this made for an easy reach out and back. Today is #99. I'm set up for success. With a fishing trip scheduled for this weekend, we should be toasting #100 early Saturday morning!
Saturday, November 26, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
My son Dave Ohler wants to make sure that I make it into the Century Club. We both had yesterday scheduled to sail together. We eased out of the slip and headed out into the Patuxent River basin and we found the breeze. We sailed west, before tacking and sailing to the Solomons bridge. We took turns taking the helm. I was at the wheel when we sailed under the bridge and after discussing the idea, we gybed, sailed back under the bridge and returned south. We criss-crossed the water south of Solomon's Island several times, before reluctantly turning for home. The problem was, neither one of use wanted the day to end. We sailed up back Back Creek under full sail. We couldn't make the second mark up the creek, so we tacked and headed in a westerly direction for a quarter of a mile, before tacking again and heading north. We opted to pass up our fairway at Calvert Marina and instead continued up past Zahnisers. Approaching the old boat sheds at Washburn’s, we again tacked twice, sailing up past Spring Cove, and eventually all the way up to docks off off Holiday Inn. We sailed back down Back Creek, but still it wasn't enough. We developed a plan to sail into our slip at Calvert Marina. The yankee sail was furled first, then the stay sail was dropped on deck. I made the turn down our fairway under full main, dead-down wind. One final gybe before Dave released the main sheet, and we coasted into the slip. Perfect. We both agreed that this one will go down as one of our top-ten sailing days ever! Put a gold star beside this one!
98 is in the books. I can taste "100" now!