We left the dock for a race in solomons... got our in the river with 20kts gusting to 38kts.... RC called the race, I called for drinks for the crew! we drove around for 4.5nm and then went in to try to dock the baot... that was fun...haha! .
Century Club: Steven Birchfield
Saturday, April 17, 2021 to Sunday, April 18, 2021
Number of days:
2 days
Saturday 4/17 - First Place! Woo hoo!!! We ended up sailing a total of 52nm to go 38nm and when the wind started to shut off it delayed our expected finish time. 12 hours. But what a 12 hours it was! I had a great crew of 5 with addition of my son Tommy Birchfield. More pics can be found on FB at my team page "Sailing Team Barba Roja 73052"
Sunday 4/18 -4th Place. Stupid A fleet race boats...haha. I only kid. We ended up 4th in a 4.8nm race with the club we lost to all the the boats not in our class... soo 3 A fleet boats and were in C... o well. I also had a full new crew, with folks who havent sailed with me or not at all. We even got the spinaker up! Super proud of our performance.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
First! and Double handed with my son! what a fun and exciting race! not much to say... we rocked that S**t !
Saturday, April 10, 2021 to Sunday, April 18, 2021
Number of days:
4 days
Wow... a full weekend on sailing on the water! whats not to like! 2 laps under the Solomons Bridge on my sons Mutt and one lap on my under spinnaker. Then a Race on Sunday to close it out! 20 miles just in the solomons area!
Im very proud of my son, he is handling the boat very well, showing a little rust on the edges, but over all he is doing great! pictures will tell the story!
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Well... we took the old Mutt out for a race... in 20kts of wind... with sails from 1974...lol... We had to retire from the race, but not for what your thinking... the mast stayed up, the sails held together...nope the dam Goose neck came apart! We were doing good too! Not winning, but doing good. This was the first race ive ever had to retire from, but with my son at the helm and the treat of MORE damage, it was a good idea. So, i am off to Bacon today to see about a replacement. We are also going to tighten up the rig and once over the boat again befor Saturdays race! We logged about 6 miles last night.
Ohh and did i mention we had about a ft of water in the boat? lol..... it was fun!
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Number of days:
3 days
Sooo.... Saturday 4/3/21, My son and I went down to our CLUB to finish preping his boat for the season. about an hour of sail repair and rigging adjustments, we set the boat in the water. Hydra Beast was finaly wet on her bottom for the first time in 2021. We got prepaired to push away from the dock, rased the main...un-tied... and the halyard knot pulled lose, the sail slid down the track and we had to quickly figure out how to get back to the dock! ( This is #1...we did leave the dock...lol)
Once back at the dock, i was able to float the boat away from the dock turn it on its side, and restring the haylard. I guess this was a good test of the new boyancy we added to the boat over the winter! With the halyard re-strung thru the mast head again, Tommy went to bail out the water that no resided in the was completly dry cockpit...lol.
Round 2! We rased the mainsail again, pulled some outhaul, added some vang.. and off the dock we went! Tacking back and forth away from the club felt great! Tommy was getting a feel for the boat.I was also figuring out how everything we added to the boat was going to work now! lots of new tech to help the boat perform... Some lines I found were much too long and one we get his new sails we can shorten them accourdingly. ( This was #2)
We sailed Out to the river and eventualy turned down wind again to come back to the dock. 5.89kts on GPS !not too shabby for a boat built in 1974! We arrived back a t the dock where we could practice arriving and leacing the dock. We tied up for a few mis, grabed for sports drinks from the cooler in the car and back out we went! (This is #3) We put in 5.56 miles total that day, mostly in Back creek and 2 short stents on the river. We decided not to venture too far out with out a chase boat or some one to help incase something happend. Tommy is "Stupid excited" and I am as well for him. its going to be a fun year!
Monday, March 29, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
So after Sundays gale... I had to re-park the boat. After backing it out of the slip I did what any sailor would do... went for a sail! 10min job was now an hour of relaxing on the water. :)
Wednesday, March 24, 2021 to Sunday, March 28, 2021
Number of days:
3 days
Wednesday 03/24/21 - Refit sails on the boat and tested fuction on Back creek, Solomons.
Saturday 03/27/21 - Rebuilt the fuel system on the boat to solve a mistory fuel leak causing the boat to smell like diesel! one bad O-ring can casue alot of fustration! motored up to the fuel dock and back after repairs were complete.
Sunday 03/28/21 - RACE! weather was Overcast with winds 6 to "40! " We had a great time, boat ran great, docking...well that was another story! It appers i need work docking the boat in 30-450kts of breeze... we got her in the slip with out hitting anything, but it was a challege... Good news is we got second for the days race! Woo Hoo! Im hoping to head back down the the dock today to turn her around and fix all the dock lines.
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Race #2...." THe Drifter"
This Sunday, we had our second Frostbites race! Conditions were calling for lite and less! we finaly had an opurtunity to use my mylar lite #2 headsail! And it worked like a charm! We didnt win or anything as all the A and B fleet boats all start the course at the same time, but we finished the race where our nearest compition did not. Results have not been posted yet, but Im excited to see the corrected time on the course! It was probably the most fun drifting race ive ever had.
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Number of days:
4 days
03/18/21
Yesterday evening, We got the Spare main put up for the first time. Its an old baggy sail, but I was able to pull on everything hard enough to get a decent shape out of it. My son and a new crew member joined me for the short 4.6 mile sail around the Solomons Sandbar to give the sail a test in 6 to 12knts of wind. We celibrated with a "nip" of rum!
MISSING DATES:
01/09/21 - Sailed solomons and PAX river for 21.1nm round trip cruse.
03/03/21 - Sailed to the solomons Bridge and back to the dock for 8.3nm round trip
03/06/21 - Sailed/ motored back creek for 1.2nm round trip
* working on 1000nm in one year... im currently at 121.35nm! I guess slow and steady "winds" the race?