As the sun sets on another year, I lurch into my busy season. Sunday afternoon was a Thanksgiving get together with Pat and her kids. From there, I went to play trumpet at Mass that evening, where I was also lector and communion minister. Thanksgiving morning I will play at Mass again, and then Pat and I will go to my daughters for Thanksgiving. Friday will be at my brothers in Wisconsin. Saturday morning at 6am I will be working the cleanup shift at PADS (program for the homeless). Saturday afternoon after PADS, I play carols with a brass group for the Salvation Army. Instead of a bell ringer, you get a brass group playing. Downside is playing outside when it is 40. Sunday morning I will play at Mass again and then go to rehearsal at Harper that evening. Additional rehearsals and band concerts will follow in the next few weeks.

This didn't happen last year - putting the boat away for the winter, but when I look around, I don't see any palm trees. A year ago, I left Roger and Tari, Keith and Lyn on the Potomac and headed south on my own down the Chesapeake. Things won't be the same this winter. To drive that home, a front came through with 40 knot winds and snow flurries. There is nothing like a boatyard in a wind storm. There are hundreds of boats packed in and the wind howls through the rigging, halyards slap against the masts. It is noisy and dramatic.

Welcome to Freya and Esme.

My first grandchild, Freya, was born the evening of September 10, followed immediately by her sister, Esme - fraternal twins.
The babies were each around 6.5 pounds. Due to the mother's elevated blood pressure, it was necessary to deliver via cesarean. Later, my daughter had some hemorrhaging and required a blood transfusion. But all is well now and mom, dad, and babies are headed home. Ironically, my daughter's room was overlooking an anchorage just north of Navy Pier in downtown Chicago.

Before my trip, I changed both of my engine belts. It was the first time I had ever done it, and maybe that caused this issue now. It is hard to see the small belt as it goes over the pulleys hidden behind other parts. Whoever is supposed to be inspecting the belts (me) has not been doing a very good job. Just because the major belt looks good is no guarantee the smaller, more hidden belt is in the same shape. So this is what happened recently ...

When I started the engine to charge my batteries during my race, no cooling exhaust water came out. I revved engine to get it going. The next day, starting home, no exhaust water again. I had to restart the engine to get it flowing. At least I was checking for water flow every time I ran the engine.

So there are two engine belts - one still in great shape, and this one shot, with many cracks and pieces coming off the inside of the belt and falling into the bilge. See top of belt where it is thin.

It is an ordeal to get to the smaller belt. Getting the big belt off was the biggest obstacle. I just about had to remove the alternator. Getting the two top bolts back on the alternator with the belt on was extremely difficult. Maybe I should have watched the YouTube video again for the part where he removed the belt ... he got the belt off easily. I blame two things for my troubles: the video wasn’t in English, and his Yanmar 3YM30 was on a nicer boat. 😉

The Solo Challenge was a bit of a challenge. First, the committee boat set up south of the reef off of Racine, WI, whereas the race instructions said the starting line was north of the reef. So that caused a 10 minute delay while all the boats motored south to get to the new starting line. I didn't adjust my tactics for the new start location, so even though I had the best timed start, I was on port tack and everyone else was coming at me on starboard tack. Sooo, I guess we are going south first. I tacked back over as soon as I could clear the reef and the one boat behind me, but upwind of me. After that, I was on the tack I had setup the chute for, so then I could finally hoist it. Soon after, the rest of the fleet also tacked over.

Eventually the wind filled in more and more, and from in front, so then it was a close reach. I ended up racing boat for boat with one particular boat the entire race, even though they are normally faster than I am. So they finally caught me at the first mark after 30 miles - the Mid Lake Buoy. I reached it first, but since we were going across the lake, it just meant going closer hauled into the wind. The other boat worked their way past me finally, but then they started falling off and ended up way south of me. That mistake let me beat them to the second mark off of Port Sheldon, MI. This was a small weather buoy we had to find in the dark, with no wind and a current. The current meant the boat would turn in circles. It was confusing because it was pitch black and the way the boat was pointed was unrelated to the direction the boat was actually drifting. The auto pilot (and me) were both thoroughly confused. And the sails were banging with the left over waves and lack of wind.

After we got out of the no wind zone, it was back to the North wind blowing across the offshore part of the lake. It was blowing 15-18 knots off the beam, and now there were waves. We flew across the lake as fast as possible (the race was only 28 hours for me). My 'buddy' boat slowly caught up to me, and I saw that their genoa was reefed (they were in the double handed section, so there were two crew on board). So that tricked me into thinking I should reef. That seemed fine based on the instruments, but they were now clearly slightly faster and steadily pulled away. After waiting too long, I took the reef back out. But it was too late and they kept sailing away in the heavy beam reach with their longer water line. I started hand steering, and was impressed at how well the auto pilot had been doing. Some solo racers hand steered all the way across the lake - 60 miles. There was one large beam wave that scared me. It was coming at me right on my side, and was much higher than the deck. Too many ocean stories, so I thought it was going to roll the boat over. But this is the lake, so nothing happened outside of an impressive elevation change.

In the end, I took fourth in my solo section, so no flag, even though I took 'first' in the double handed section. That is, solo sailors took first through fourth in fleet, and the first place double handed boat (my 'buddy' boat) took fifth in fleet. So that skipper was happy, except for the fact that I kept beating him to the first two marks, when I didn't used to be that fast.

So what broke (it's always something)? When I started the engine to charge my batteries, there was no cooling water coming out. I increased the RPMs, and then it started flowing. The next morning, when I started the engine to go back home, no water again. I finally had to turn off the engine and start it again, That worked. The next time I'm on the boat, I will check the belts.

So ... I am back at Racine again for the Solo Challenge - 138 NM. I hate docking at the Yacht Club with no help - there are no cleats to tie up to. I was supposed to have help, but there was some confusion about who was coming in, so even though they saw me, no one came to assist. The light wind was blowing me off the dock on the side, and into the dock at the bow. I made it, but it was a struggle. There are rings to tie onto, but the ones for the bow are literally under the dock and you have to lay on your stomach to reach them.

So what have I worked on lately? Auto pilot - now that the post is secured. I did the dockside calibration assuming the rudder turns 36 degrees max. Today I did the auto tune at the start of the trip. What a difference! Before, the boat would swing 2-3 degrees side to side under power, as measured by the GPS COG (course over ground). Today it was locked in even with small 1-2 foot waves. The COG might vary 1 degree. This behavior would have been nice on the journey, especially in the narrow ICW.

The engine was no longer holding a fixed RPM. It slowly drifted down and got slower, so every half hour I would have to kick it back up again. It is amazing what you can learn by reading the manual, instead of just looking and making a guess on what to tighten. So that seemed fixed today.

The lake temperature was 80 today. That is unusual for this side of the lake, and this far north. It is also warmer than the water in the Bahamas when I was there.

But the best part of the day was this morning when I pumped out the holding tank. The tank didn’t seem to be emptying, and I couldn’t hear air being sucked loudly through the air vent. We tried several things to no avail. When we removed the pump, we saw solid brown pieces of crud jamming the opening. This was leftover from the trip and maybe the rough Hook Race dislodged stuff caked on the bottom of the tank. So I cleared it and tried again. The pump fitting wasn’t leaking air, so I was not leaning over the fitting and pushing down hard on it. So somehow a blast of crap burst out for just a second, and nailed me in the face and eye, despite wearing glasses. It was not a pleasant experience. That does not normally happen, but due to the clog, I guess ... very strange, and smelly. I don’t care to repeat that episode.