Season Summary thus far

09/30/2008

Well, I haven' updated my site in months. I've been very busy with work (awesome job I started last spring), sailing, and everything else. I'll just go through my collection of photos and post some here to give a summary of the season so far. Hard to believe it's almost over!

July 19th:
Brought out my friend JD for some sailing for the first time:

July 26th:
Dave's daughter Becca joined me for a day of sailing and kayaking.

Living aboard the weekend:

July 27th:

A little storm appeared out of no where, along with the USCG urging all boaters to seek shelter immediately:

August 1st:
Racing in the Governor's Cup on Trevor's Merit 25. It's a popular overnight race from Annapolis down to St. Mary's College, about 80 miles. We were the smallest boat in the race of ~120 sailboats. Unfortunately we had a mechanical failure (traveler rip apart) as a storm approached around 8 am and we had to motor home to his slip on the St. Mary's River. This was after sailing very well overnight and passing several boats. Trevor later heard from a fellow racer that we were around 5th place or so in our class of 15-20 boats early that morning before things broke. It was quite the experience. The Merit is a fast and excellent sailing boat. It isn't comfortable for overnighting though! Here are some photos of the adventure:

We met up with Daren on our way up to the starting line and he took this photo:

Coming up to the starting line with about 120 sailboats all sailing in that condensed area:

I was the bowman and camera man, John being railmeat, Trevor at the tiller, and Dave managing the sheets.

Making our way south:

This is just the beginning:

The following morning:

A warning to all Merit 25 owners... The traveler was installed at the factory without any backing plates, not even fender washers!! It popped right out of the fiberglass during a controlled jibe, although one of the traveler lines came loose allowing the car to slam across the track which forced the energy to go somewhere breaking the traveler. You might want to check your installation. Fortunately it never ripped out during mast raising when Trevor used his boom and mainsheet as a gin pole.

Sailing downwind under headsail alone, but not for much longer due to the storm approaching. Trevor decided to put the motor back on and start motoring home to ride out the storm.

Dave was awesome, not taking any sleeping breaks. He was also the only one with foul weather gear and volunteered to steer us through the storm while the three of us went down in the cabin. I thought about bringing my foul weather gear, but it was forecasted to be hot, so I figured a little rain would be refreshing. Turns out it got a bit chilly out there during the storm, but then got blazing hot after the storm passed.

Trevor having a good time:

August 16th:

Rafting up with Dave and Daren:

Daren with his fresh fish he caught in the bay:

Spent the following dead calm day in the marina working on the boat. Washed the top sides so she's looking great as always:

August 31st:

My brother Brian finally made it out for the first time this year! We had a great time spending Labor Day weekend out there.

Found a good spot away from the crowd on the other side of the island. Swing keels are convenient.

Leaving the anchorage in the morning:

Brian at the tiller:

September 20th:

I went out for a day sail single handling along with Dave with his C-250.

Around 4:30pm, I brought out a couple friends and originally we were just going to go for a short sail then head down to Annapolis to see their friends band play. The band lost the gig, so we ended up heading down to Pirate's Cove Marina on the West River for dinner. I've heard about the place for years, but never got around to checking it out. So, we got there just after dark and having a GPS sure is helpful!

Interesting how the sun was reflecting off that section of clouds:

Well, that sums up most of my season thus far. There were a few trips missing from here, but oh well. I was hoping to go on a ~4 day sail this year, but it hasn't happened yet. I still hope to make it happen, but September has been calmer than normal which doesn't make for good extended sailing trips. I guess we'll see how October goes. The sailboat show is coming up next week!

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Raft up on Warehouse Creek

07/13/2008, Warehouse Creek

Well, the past couple months I haven't been sailing as much as compared to last season. I just posted the last couple brief updates late. My sailing interest seemed to be waning, but this past weekend is just what I needed to get psyched about sailing again. We finally had a weekend with good weather forecasted both days and all our schedules free for a raft up. Our plan was to raft up on Warehouse Creek on Kent Island. Daren and his son Sean sailed their C-25. Dave, Debbie and their daughter Becca sailed their C-250. I single handed my Sapphire Breeze. They all had a 45 minute or so head start on me getting on the water. Near Bloody Point Lighthouse I passed by Daren. I couldn't believe I caught up! A major reason is most likely due to his large genoa 150 not being able to point as well as my 130. I made it passed the light on two close hauled tacks and it took him a couple extra.

Making my way across the bay:

Here I am leading the group up to Warehouse Creek:

Some wing on wing action coming up to the creek entrance:

Here's Daren; note his tall rig C-25 with a bimini solution:

We anchored in 6' of water just off that shore. Daren and Sean swam over to it while I jumped in to scrub my water line and check out the condition of my bottom paint. I then swam a bit in the 85 degree water. Hard to believe that was my first time swimming off of my boat.

Looking around the anchorage:

Sean hanging out and was doing a bit of fishing:

There wasn't much of a sunset that night:

Group shot of all of us:

Sunday morning Becca joined me on my boat for the sail back. Here we are making our way out to Eastern Bay:

Here we are sailing behind Dave and Debbie:

It was great that Becca joined me especially since the winds picked up to the 20-22 knot range on the Chesapeake. We were sailing 6 knots across the bay on a broad reach; took only an hour to cross! Fighting the big rollers from the southerly winds was also a work out. We had a great time out there though!

Here is my course plotted. The trail wasn't programmed long enough for the trip and started deleting the beginning of the sail.

Here is a close up of Warehouse Creek on the chart: