Met up at DSC for frostbite racing but the wind was so terrible we almost gave up. Ended up just going to the red marker at fells pt and back, and I screwed up the start horribly so came in way way behind everyone. Wind picked up slightly so we decided to go for another one and that time I didn't screw up the start and we ended up coming in second! The real race was with Albert who almost overtook me right by the finish, but we prevailed! Super fun. Not too cold, but the drizzle was kind of bleh. Was having so much fun I forgot to get a selfie with my crew! Had Susan as my crew and we were a great team. Today was all skippers so everyone just teamed up and consolidated on half as many boats. (45F, drizzly off and on, super terrible wind, maybe 3-5kts from the west.)
Century Club: Rebekah Bromwell
Mid 50s again, mostly sunny, much lower wind than yesterday though. Probably 7-10 max and it totally disappeared after 3 hours on the way back in. Took out #6 to do SH practice for an hour (James hung out in the pit) and then picked Tom up at the t-head for another couple hours out to the turning basin and back. We were going to do a POB but had to avoid a floating log, so we swung back around and picked that up instead. Lol. It was ridiculous. Only when we tried putting it in the "cabin" did we realize how stupidly big it was. Could barely maneuver in the cockpit around the bit sticking out almost to the traveler. Considered dropping it on the dock at anchorage but didn't want them to think we were dumping or something so got it all the way back to DSC and dragged it away from the docks. Noticed a bunch more floating pieces like it, though not as big, and realized it was charred badly and looked like it probably was from the fire over there right after the lighted boat parade. Should have left it on their docks after all. Oh well.
Wind was weirdly coming from the southeast this afternoon, but was a shifty mess especially right around dominoes so most of my SH practice was very annoying. Got in a couple decent POBs but not much else.
Got warmed up w/Richard and Karen at noon for an hour and then got dropped at the T-head and rigged #5 to take James on an almost bridge run. Finished up around 4:30. Much gustier than I expected, we did reef but it wouldn't hold so trim was super shitty. Have never felt so underpowered on the main, and had significant leehelm which felt weird. Considered dropping main and trying to tie ot out of the way but had to point as high as possible to make it back with the wind coming practically straight from the west. (WSWish) mid 50 degrees F, mostly sunny, 10-15knts but quite gusty.
Went out in #5 w/Robert from 12-4 to do a bunch low wind SH practice. Did a good amount of POBs including fig 8s which I almost never do so that was good. Feel pretty ok about them. Practiced steering with sails and also some jib only sailing. Found that just flogging jib and tightening main never really brought us back fully upwind but I think we need to experiment more. There was a lot of weird lull spots and I think that confused the issue.
also stopped by Sun and Akimbo to check on stuff. There's a second thru-hull under the v-berth I hadn't seen and James reminded me about that smaller water tank too.
There were SO many more people waiting along the pier in fells point than I expected. Apparently this is a really big deal and super cool thing here. Definitely want to keep doing it every year now. When we got to Akimbo at noon I got the engine going to make sure the inverter worked (it does) but found a new leak somewhere running down the hose between the impeller and engine block. Tom managed to scramble and change it out for the new one crazy fast when taping wasn't helping the leak. The old hose looked kind of worn at the end by the engine so maybe that was it. Anyway no leak anymore. Plus I figured out which metric ratchet wrenches work on the cover over the belts. (And impeller hose.) Successfully re-winterized with no hiccups this time at the end of the night too. Finished up at DSC around 9:30.
Went out on Crazy Love with Steve and Robert, and Aiden gave us a lesson on sail trim. I learned so many things! Also gorgeous weather. Mid 30s, sunny, wind didn't look that amazing at first but ended up being fabulous. (10-14 gusts to 21) 4hrs + winterization
Did my upgrades and made my first Akimbo reservation this morning! It was QUITE chilly, mid 30s partially sunny, and although it didn't look like there was anywhere near the predicted 10kts at the docks once we got out past the Ft it picked up nicely. We went out past ft Carroll for a bit and then turned around. It ended up being really excellent conditions, except for the chill. After about 3 hrs it was getting to be possibly fairly uncomfortable. Lol. Everything went great until docking when I reverted to my bad habit of going too slow, lost too much momentum and drifted too close to the dock and had to back out at the last moment. Embarrassing. Bleh. Otherwise fun. Peanut M&Ms were an excellent treat to pass around and keep everyone going when the shivering got to be too much. Also learned to properly winterize engine. Seems not to work very well if you leave the engine running and try to swap sea cocks. Instead the method is to turn off the engine as normal, close raw water sea cock, place hose at bottom of antifreeze bottle, open that seacock, turn engine on and if it doesn't start sucking in the antifreeze immediately rev the throttle up. That seems the foolproof way. Do NOT throttle down (like I stupidly told James to do) because it will stop sucking and may get an airlock. When pink starts coming out the exhaust shut engine off immediately. Close the seacock. This should take about 1/2-3/4 bottle.
Took out #6 with Richard for a frostbite course practice and then went back to ft mchenry via a pause in the turning basin for heaving to practice, then tacked back to DSC and docked. It was fairly chilly. Reefed the main but it wasn't too much wind really, but the tips of my fingers were pretty numb by the time we got back. Mid high 30s I think, felt fine when the sun was out but not great otherwise. Water temp as 51ish according to the noaa reading by the ft. Only out about 2.5hrs due to the cold.
And it went awesome! (except that I spaced on which slip we were in mid-final docking, but up to that, awesome.) I really wasn't 100% on enrolling in the BKI because I felt so unsure about single handing skills in certain specific ways, and she clarified stuff and also made just had me DO everything I was worried about and it was totally fine. I did a quick stop POB with the weighted buoy, a heave-to, reefed and should it out, an upwind and downwind dock at the T-head, and left the dock 3 times myself which made me feel much more capable of that in future. The only things I'm still worried about are leaving the dock under trickier conditions (pinned to it in higher wind, for example) and generally just managing much higher wind. Otherwise I think I'm good. So I went ahead and registered. Eek. (≈2.5hrs) ooh interestingly, I tried sheeting the jib both ways because she likes NOT crossing them, and I find it pretty much fine either way so I'm ambi-sheetrous or something. I think I will generally keep them crossed though because it does keep it a little simpler to adjust on the high side.
Awesome awesome day doing a couple class race frostbites In Annapolis. Learned tons and also it was just a beautiful day out with pretty decent wind. (It was excellent to start.)