Saturday my youngest brother Andy joined me for some sailing on his 15th birthday. It was his first time out since I took the family out to the Volvo Ocean Race on my birthday in May. This was also his first time really sailing since we motored mostly that last time.
We got to my boat around 11:30am and I tried to install my main sail reef hook. It turns out the pin on the goose neck is about 1/32" too short! I just cannot get the ring that holds it in place back on. Dave gave his horn a short blast as he passed my marina, so he was just getting out there. We got everything ready and set sail around noon. I explained to Andy the basics of the tiller and had him take the helm as I raised the main as we came out the creek. We were able to sail out the Rhode River and then on a broad reach out the main West River channel. Winds were reported at Thomas Point to be around 10-13 knots, but they were lighter and variable out the channel.
Shortly after passing the green marker, we found Dave. I called him up and we sailed towards each other and sailed up to Thomas Point. The winds were better out there with the opening of the South River right there. Here is a photo shortly after we met up on our way to Thomas Point. Dave has the C-250 in front of the green hulled boat which just happens to be there and made for a nice picture.
It was a beautiful day out, sunny, clear skies, and around 60F; perfect for taking pictures. I love pictures and I know a lot of my readers do as well, so I have several for this post.
Here is Thomas Point Lighthouse:
Andy enjoying it up on the bow with the lighthouse in the background:
Dave and I sailed past the lighthouse and made several tacks back and fourth for some photo shoots. Here is my Sapphire Breeze:
Dave's friend Kevin took the best photo (thanks!):
Here are some photos I took of Dave:
We took some videos as well and I may upload some and link them to this post later on. After our last pass by, I tacked back south and caught up with Dave. Winds were dying down now and checking out Thomas Point's weather page showed winds calmed to 3-5 knots during the hours of 2-3pm. We were only cruising 1-2 knots and we sailing our boats parallel right next to each other with in talking distance. I told Dave lets race back home! Yeah, this will be a real adrenaline rush, action packed race! HAHA So, we agreed and one rule was no cutting across the shoal from the West River and we must go to the right of the green marker.
Andy was still at the helm from the photo shoots, he got quite a bit of time with the tiller. I was watching my sails and trying to trim them the best I could to squeeze every possible knot. We had to sail close hauled and the wind was coming almost directly from the direction we needed. I noticed Dave fell off the wind a little bit; I wasn't sure if it was his pointing ability or if he had a different strategy. I took the helm and sailed us as close hauled as possible. I noticed we were getting slightly ahead of Dave. The winds picked up to 10-11 knots with some gusts. I was getting excited that it looked like we may actually win this race. As we approached the shoal and I was in the lead, I didn't want to break our rule and go into the shoal so I made a tack once I thought we were in line with the two outside markers. Dave had the advantage of having a GPS that showed him exactly where he was in relation to the shoal. Shortly after tacking there was a crab pot and another sailboat that had right of way. I was trying to avoid both and my genoa was back winded so we had to tack back on our previous course. We were losing our ground as Dave continued on his tack towards the shoal ahead of us. We gained our momentum again and then tacked for the green marker as did Dave. Dave was on a faster heading and rounded the marker several minutes ahead of us. I cut around the marker closely to gain some ground. We then sailed close hauled down the channel into the West River. I watched when the other sailboats ahead of us tacked to head into the Rhode River. Dave continued further than most of the other boats. I followed the course of another sailboat and cut the turn closer than Dave. I was gaining up on him, but at our pace and with the short distance left, I could tell we wouldn't catch all the way up. Dave won our first fun race. Congratulations Dave! It was fun and takes some strategizing to choose your course. It was all in fun and I don't know much about real racing, but I was glad to see it was a close race. Dave said if I didn't tack too early before the shoal and make the mistake, I would have won. He said I had the faster boat that day, unlike the other weekend where I could not keep up with him.
This concluded another great day of sailing and Andy really enjoyed it and had a great time.