Colleagues on another boat in the Round Bay fleet reached out to let me know that they'd be out sailing on Wednesday afternoon and asked if I was interested in joining. I moved some things around on my schedule and was able to go out. their Catalina Capri 22 had a genoa on it while I had only my jib, but I was nonetheless able to keep slightly ahead going upwind. Started out with them pointing higher, but having another boat to pace myself against allowed me to adjust things so I could point about as high. After tacking, went on a beam reach home, and I was able to catch up and pass them after several hundred yards. They then sent some fab pictures, which was so kind!
Century Club: Richard Turman
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Love having the boat in the backyard on a lift so I can take it out spur of the moment at 5:30 and sail until 6:45 -- after the sun goes down. 5-7 knots of breeze, and I had a great single-hand evening ghosting along.
Sunday, October 30, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Great fall colors on the trees and wind ranging from 6-9 knots from the SE in 61-degree weather gave me a great time to practice going upwind, where I managed to consistently go 5 knots in 8 knots of true wind. Ran a course starting at E and ending at N and then ran home, going 3-4 knots wing-and-wing all the way to the Red channel marker. Then shot into Valentine going 5 knots and furled the jib and ghosted all the way to the slip. Really a beautiful evening. Tightened the top batten, so hopefully we'll lose the pucker there going forward. We'll see.
Saturday, October 29, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
7-8 knots from the South with a high temperature of 62 but sunny proved great sailing conditions to take Lark out with a buddy. First he steered and I crewed and then we switched. He caught up and we passed a Catalina 42 going upwind, which was fun!
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
8 knots from the south was enough to draw 8 sailboats out to Round Bay on the Severn on a fall afternoon with 70 degrees. Took Lark out with a performance-minded buddy and was able to get the main to go up a little higher, and find that the windex was mounted slightly off-center. And that the apparent wind angle shown on the instruments isn't equivalent on both tacks. Seems I need to re-configure some things. Great day to be out, though, regularly getting 3.7-4 knots in 7-8 knots apparent. Lovely day!
Sunday, October 16, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Took my wife on my new sailboat for the first time, and drove her around the neighborhood. Low sixties with little of the South wind affecting us on Valentine and Plum creeks. Nice to drive around with a depth gauge for the very first time in waters I've been plying for nine years now, but never with a depth gauge. Really helpful! Then dropped my wife back at the dock and took the sailboat out in 6 knots of breeze from the south, gusting to 10. As more and more clouds rolled and it looked like rain, headed home and got the boat onto her lift straight after the second try, cleaned her up and put everything away.
Saturday, October 15, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Visited the (sailboat!) show in the morning with a buddy looking for a 35' cruiser for his family. Lots to see, but awfully pricey.
Came home and drove my powerboat off my neighbor's lift and brought it from the Severn River over to my dock. Then got my sailboat rigged and ready, and took it out with said buddy in 11-13 knots of breeze, while being followed by the Tartan 245 distributor driving my powerboat and taking photos of us sailing my new boat. Buddy drove and I handled the sheets, and we tacked and jibed back and forth well over a dozen times so good 'action' photos could be taken. Once that was done, powerboat went back to the dock, as did we. So Tartan distributor could join me on my boat and help me understand rig tune and set-up. Headed out into Round Bay in 12-14 knots, and had a beautiful spirited sail with two of us on the rail. Set a new speed record for me in this boat upwind -- previous record was 5.5 knots last weekend in 10 knots of wind, and this time we got it up to 5.8 knots sustained. Really fun!
Then returned to the dock so buddy could drive home and distributor could install transom netting while I drove powerboat back to neighbor's lift.
Four boat rides in an afternoon was exhilarating. And I slept well.
Friday, October 14, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Had a great evening sail, if short, after finishing up zoom calls and finally getting out to the dock by 5:30 and leaving the dock by 5:50. Had a nice ride in 6 knots of wind, managing 3.5 knots upwind headed to race mark B and then turning around and coming home. It was the first time I'd been out there single-handing, and I enjoyed the opportunity to tweak the settings on the main and jib to try to get sail settings to produce the fastest results. Made some progress, but have lots more to do. Beautiful evening in the mid-60's -- which isn't going to last.
Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Drove like a bat from DC to get home by 5; ended up getting home by 5:09 and leaving the dock by 5:28. Had a great sail with my neighbor on my new T245, Lark, in 9 knots of S wind. Returned to the dock by 6;35, and got everything buttoned down just as the last light left the sky. Perfect timing, but also showing how little time we have after work these days to go sailing, sadly.
Lark performed nicely, getting up to 5.3 knots upwind in 9 knots true. Ran 2/3 of the way down Round Bay, circled around a Catalina 31 heading north, and turned north ourselves, and went downwind about 4-4.8 knots, easily passing the Catalina. A great evening for experimentation. And I finally got the clearance lights to work with the steaming light. And the engine started right up, no problem.
Thursday, October 6, 2022 to Monday, October 10, 2022
Number of days:
5 days
On Friday, September 23, my new Tartan 245 arrived from the factory in Painesville, OH to Annapolis. It took some trial and error for the rigging team to get the forestay up and the furler attached, and then to deal with her taking on water once launched due to a through-hull having the depth guage not fully screwed in propertly, and some gelcoat problems. Once that was all fixed, we had such high winds, and rain due to the remnants of Hurrican Ian blow through that we had to wait for that to pass, and then get water out of the boat that had come in from THAT. And then get the Torqueedo battery to take a charge, which it had not done despite being plugged in for the better part of 10 days. Finally hoisted the spin at the dock to check out how to rig it, and then drove away on Thursday, October 6, at about 5:35 pm. Hoisted the main, but the wind died, so motor-sailed up the Severn to Round Bay to Valentine Creek to home, about 8 miles, which took a bit over 2.5 hours. Motored at a little over 4 knots, and was happy to find that I had 64% of charge left on the battery once I made it home. Placed the boat on the side of my dock overnight after putting on the night canvas and making sure she was secure at the dock. Plugged everything in.
Next day it was blowing from the west, but after getting the engine to charge which it did not the night before, motored out and then came in to the lift and found that indeed the boat rose up nicely on the lift, with the lifting keel rising right easily inside her. Learned where to line the boat up to get the keel to land squarely on the Ibeam in the center of the lift. Great boat ride around and then up and down on the lift for 90 minutes to get it right. Also fixed the steaming light and the anchor light, which had been installed in the correct connections at the base of the mast but for which one of the ground wires had come out.
Next day it was blowing 10-15 from the east, so went to West Marine to buy a tiller extension and dock lines and a hand pump and a fire extinguisher, and came back and mounted the tiller extension on the tiller, which worked out fine. Spent an hour futzing around with the dock lines, trying to hold the boat in the right position to be lifted squarely in the center of the lift. Hard with 10-15 knots of wind, but after 90 minutes mostly got it straight.
Next day it was blowing 10 from the West, and after drama getting the engine to start, worked to figure out how to calibrate the depth/speed instruments. Luckily my under-30 daughter figured it all out, so for the first time I got to see depth and wind, apparent and true. We then went sailing out on Round Bay, and went around St. Helena Island and back. Gusts to 15 and 20 kept things interesting, but the amazing part was sailing where I had no idea what the depth really was, after sailing in this area for 8 years, and finding out that in many cases it was deeper than I thought. Hit my new record with the boat, 5.5 knots upwind in about 10 knots of wind. I handled the sheets while my daughter drove, and she found the helm quite responsive. I used the winches but not the self-tailing mechanism, so my arms and hands got a good workout. A glorious day out -- sunny and mid 60s, and only a few boats out. Wonderful first pleasure sail on my new boat!
Next day we had light winds of 5-6 knots from the SW, S, and SE. Took her out with a friend and again had him steer while I handled the sheets. She moved pretty well, making 3 knots with 4 knots of wind. Only a few other boats out, and again a glorious day, 68 degrees and sunny. Came home and buttoned her up and she easily went up the lift the first try in the right location. Came back after enjoying a beer with my friend and then saw that there was a water-line height line of schmutz on the boat, so got out the brush and bucket and washed down the boat on both sides, which wasn"t so easy on the port side, requiring lying in the side deck and leaning down with the brush. But to keep the boat clean is worth it, since she has no bottom paint!