Finally got to try Akimbo out for a cruising trip, and it was as awesome as expected. Had an insanely relaxing sail over on Saturday morning on a SINGLE steady broad reach. Eventually figured out the nightmare piling docking situation at the marina (we forgive them, everything else about haven harbor is great, but also watch yourself if it's low tide. Meep.) and caught the shuttle into town, checked out the fest and listened to a band, walked to the other side of the harbor for dinner and awesome live 90s hits, saw a spectacular sunset, blood Red Crescent moon rise, walked back to the other side of the harbor, checked out the beach/firepits, slept pretty well, got up and made coffee and tea for everyone, and then set out back home. The return sail was a lot lower wind but there were still some fun highlights. We even got back in time to pump out and then I docked and we packed out. Super great weekend!
Century Club: Rebekah B
There were a dozen crew today at member sail and I was the only skipper until almost the last minute! They just kept coming from the parking lot and Liz (dock master) and were trying to figure out how they could all sign up without skippers. Thank goodness Sandy came and a couple people had other fun stuff to do. It was a pretty low wind day but there were a few better bits and we had an ok time on Sayonara even with 5 crew.
Volunteered to be Hansa dinghy rigger but also got to crew an impromptu Sonar race entry. Sonar 0 is one of the new ones and seriously not ready to go. Had to find a jib to take off another boat, plus something was quite wrong with the main, but that all hardly mattered in light of the absolute absence of wind . Ugh. 3rd tow this year, first time on a day fleet boat. The tow boat us couple was very cool and had a sweet big black dog hanging out with them at least. lol
Skippered for member sail which had decent turn out in spit of the rain and fog. There was pretty ok wind until nearly the end too. Took out J#4 with James and Melanie so she could do some POBs in the turning basin and just sail around a bit. James did really well doing all the down wind sailing back. Docking was excellent which helps my anxiety about it.
Went out on Akimbo with Steve, Rob & Jeannie. It was rainy but decent wind (mostly until it really died down) so we got to try out our rain gear and each do a POB. None of us really got it right. I think we are turning towards the mark way too early because we each struggled to be on a close reach heading towards it (vs beam or even broad) and even when blowing the main at that point the speed was obviously too high. At least I have a better idea of how I want to try to manage my turn next time.
Oh and I remembered to get a pic of my reverse docking job on Akimbo from Sunday before we set out. :-)
Got to try out my sperry rain boots and softshell pants during a fantastic sail with Scott & Rob. Boots are more comfortable than the deck boots plus should take on less water over the ankle, and pants are very comfy. And I LOVE grey drizzly cool day sailing. :-)
Albert coached me through a bunch of super cool motoring practice, plus a couple POB's under sail up at the basin.
I started by taking us out of the slip, then did a regular docking at the t-head to warm up, then tried an emergency single handed docking at t-head but failed a couple of times (just missed catching the cleat with the spring line bridle) but finally got it after adjusting the line and getting in slower. It is a really neat trick. Albert would have some kind of attack and just "collapse" and then I would steer us somewhere safe and put it in neutral while quickly rigging the fwd spring through the middle chock and cleating the bitter end, then in clearing the loop end but leaving the line through the chock at the stern, and wrapping around the winch and tailer to hold it fast. Then I would approach the dock very straight on vs the normal bow in method because I wanted the stern to be closer to the dock. Then throw the loop over to lasso the cleat, then put engine in fwd but still throttled down, and point bow into the dock. At that point I was free to adjust lines and could use the winch to pull in, or loop a bow line over, etc. The problem comes with trying to reverse out because I couldn't double the line back from mid ships. I think it could work if we had a much longer line though.
After a couple successful emergency dockings, we reversed all the way to the fireboat by general ship repair and then turn left and go straight back parallel to the fireboat, THROUGH the dilapidated dolphins/pilings to simulate a Mediterranean mooring between the J docks, and then pulled out fwd. Then we did it again several more times but continued in reverse all the way out, and then tried it a couple of times to actually dock in our slip in reverse. I failed that a couple of times but then actually did it decently a couple times too. It was crucial to be as far to the right as possible and then turn well ahead, and once in slip if too far to starboard I could use a kick fwd to adjust. In that position prop walk helps get close to the finger. Then go into fwd to fully stop about halfway back.
Then we did backward practice by B dock going straight into the area by the covered picnic table and turning left sharply to do the Mediterranean docking thing at the firehouse. It was pretty scary but totally manageable in the low wind. I did it a few times.
my most important takeaways from the motoring practice was to get momentum going in reverse until steering kicks in, then go to neutral while steering and switch to reverse to give it a kick of power now and then. If you already have decent speed and steering can leave in reverse.
For POBs my issue seems to be turning up too soon and losing speed too fast, or the reverse. I need to carefully gauge the turn much more than in a J.
9-6 worked on Sweet Dreams with Albert, James (mine), Sandy, & Kevin. Scrubbed and waxed topsides, scrubbed deck, stripped teak and re-oiled, etc, etc. Wind looked SO good and I really wanted to go for a sail after all that work but nobody was up for it. Also was already 6 when we finished so wouldn't have long and was getting cloudy for potential rain. :-( But the boat looks a lot nicer now. I also waxed that chalky slippery spot where James fell so hopefully it won't be as dangerous now.
Took J#4 with Ben & Robert and was actually doing pretty great closing in on Oleg when the wind completely stopped. :-( Had to get the paddle out and combine with sculling to even get back just after dark. Bleh.
Took the weighted buoy to the turning basin this afternoon so I could try some of the tips Josh gave me but the wind was really low, so after some super slow "docks" we decided to try out single hanging (with the other person ready to step in from the pit as necessary) and it was pretty damn fun. I figured out that crossing the jib sheets is pretty necessary. Other than that, it's a bit of a workout, but seems manageable in low wind. I'd need a ton of practice before trying it really alone or with higher wind. Will talk to Laura about learning properly.