Decided to continue yesterday’s shambles theme and let Dewey skipper the Meatball this evening. Not particularly clean racing, with some difficult crossings and other issues. We did get some good practice with an improved spinnaker gybe process that I will be implementing going forward.
Century Club: Jonathan Nepini
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Sunset spinnakers
The inaugural “Shambles Wednesday”, where everyone on the boat swaps out of their usual crew position to try something new. I was on the helm, and drove the boat in moderate conditions. We got a clean downwind start, and I drove the boat on a short course to the mark. We were at the top of our ability to carry the spinnaker on a reach, and boats that favored the right side of the course ended up having better breeze. We rounded the mark well, but I had some trouble keeping the boat in the groove on the upwind leg. Fun to mix it up, but I definitely have some work to do on the helm to figure this boat out.
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
A quick after-work paddle off Clarke’s landing and before an evening meeting. Breezy conditions at the start made for a good workout, and tapered off a bit towards the end. A fun paddle, if too short.
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Floating the afternoon away
Lazy river tubing on the Shenandoah with friends. Cool breezes, a rope swing, and great company. Much-needed relaxation after a very busy and hectic summer.
Thursday, August 15, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Floating around before the start
Light conditions this Thursday. Kept the boat moving as much as possible. 9/12, not a great performance but I still had fun.
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Great performance this week and a 2/8 finish. A great downwind start, tight crew work all around, and predictable, fast sailing. We’re really tightening the boat up nicely and sailing great together.
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
A nice solo paddle to Greenwell State Park and back on account of the glass-like conditions. I enjoyed the variety of scenery and many beautiful river houses. Longer than intended as the weather was great and I was enjoying the trip.
Monday, August 12, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Tonight's paddle group
A nice paddle off Forest Landing this evening. A good sized group, and we decided to be a bit ambitious and paddle out to Clarke’s Landing. A fun group and another great way to start the week.
Sunday, August 11, 2024
Number of days:
1 day
Today's route
After a trip to Ocean City and a break from sailing I decided to get back out on the Meatball today for a singlehanded sail. Nice, if somewhat light conditions for a run to the bridge and back. I found Vlad on his Nacra and he chased me up to the bridge. I kept going north and turned around at Myrtle Point.
Halfway back down conditions lightened and I decided to set a spinnaker to make some progress. While it can be done solo, it was a bit of a handful getting it rigged and launched, and I wouldn’t want it up in anything but very light conditions.
The wind gave out completely and I resigned myself to paddling in, but thankfully I found a bit more breeze at the end of the island and was able to sail the rest of the way in. A great way to spend an afternoon on the water.
Friday, August 2, 2024 to Saturday, August 3, 2024
Number of days:
2 days
The Dangerous and Barba Roja crews
Off on a heavy beat
Ducking Barba Roja
Gov cup 2024! A wild ride if there ever was one.
After a bit of a rocky start getting to the line, with a soft grounding and a broken fuel connector on our motor, we made it and started the race under conditions in the high teens. We settled on playing the eastern shore as much as possible, and worked to get over that way early in the race. Conditions briefly dropped enough for us to shake out a reef and put the Genoa up, before building again. We did a couple driver rotations, and as evening fell the waves and sea state built again with storms in the vicinity.
At its peak around and for the first hour after sunset, conditions built into the high 20s, gusting into the low 30s. Even with just the reefed main up, we struggled to keep the boat on her feet and on course as we pounded hard into heavy sea state.
After about an hour of what felt like getting our teeth kicked in, the breeze backed off somewhat and we were able to re-hoist the jib and sail a close reach to Point No Point. As we hardened up to head to Point Lookout, we discovered the jib had a tear across the entire top of the sail. Without a spare, and with it still trimming and making power, I convinced Dewey to leave it up for the remainder of the race. Once we rounded Point Lookout we were able to crack off and enjoy more reasonable conditions for the remainder of the race.
In the St. Mary’s, the breeze clocked aft and we were able to set a spinnaker in the last mile of the race, making for a great photo finish.
4th of 7 boats so not our best performance ever, but the crew were all troopers and I felt like we got almost everything out of the boat we could’ve given the challenging conditions. Definitely a gov cup for the books, but maybe not one I’d like to repeat very soon!