is becoming more of a challenge, since the time between the last zoom call or conference call and full-on darkness is getting shorter and shorter. Nonetheless, had a good evening out for a good 40 minutes, up Valentine Creek and over to Plum Creek and home. Many fewer geese this evening, making one wonder if they're all now gone. Lots of herons, though.
Century Club: Richard Turman
Monday, October 18, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Now that I've put my Harbor 20, Fiona, up for sale, and found a buyer, I need a new sailboat! So I needed to spend some quality time at the boat show. Which I then did, going on Friday and on Sunday. One had test-sails available on Monday, so I went out on this Tartan 245 in 15-23 knots off of Annapolis. She was quite stable with the spin up, and then when returning to dock (the Annapolis Sailing School) when the wind kicked up to 20-23, and we banged through the white caps. Intriguing option.
Thursday, October 14, 2021 to Sunday, October 24, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Took her out for what turned out to be a lovely 75 minute trip, starting about 5:15 in the evening, and ending at dusk. Got to revel in the sounds of hundreds of geese flying south, just as I had the night before. Had good wind from the south, allowing me a nice turn of speed, especially since Fiona's bottom had been cleaned the prior week. Took a photo to use in the sales brochure.
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Had a nice 40 minutes out on the kayak in Valentine Creek. Light breeze, and no other boats out when I ventured out at about 6 p.m. Wonderfully, I got to listen to a cacaphony of geese flying south, honking their way in their waves of 'v's. Loud, and wonderful. If I can't race, because we're past the end of Wednesday Night Racing, cool to be able to kayak!
Monday, October 11, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Took my Harbor 20 out for in the early afternoon, whiuch is such a rare treat. 90 minutes was enough to get me into Round Bay and down to V and back, travelling 5 or so miles.
Saturday, October 9, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Got the word that it was time to plant oyster spat, so went and picked up a bag of oyster spat on our powerboat, bringing them back and putting them. in a tub of water until I cleaned the 3 cages that we'd used last year. What was funny was that we had a nice ride over from Valentine Creek to the house near Smith's marina where they're kept, and they have a dock. Turnes out we weren't the only ones picking up our bag of oysters that morning at 10:00 a.m -- 3 other boats arrived when we did.
Took 30 minutes per cage to clean them once we got hime, and used an entire steel brush up, but got the detritus off, and then put the spat in and lowered them off the dock in three places.
A beautiful morning on the water, both directions.
Friday, October 1, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
To sell Fiona, I thought it made sense to have her hauled and powerwashed -- and get the barnacles removed. I motor sailed over to Smiths on a Friday afternoon for a 12:30 appointment -- wind didn't help a lot, but it helped extend the battery's range.
I was stunned at the size of the barnacles they scraped off. Not just from her keel, but from her hull near the bow, all down the middle of her bottom. Quarter to even silver-dollar-sized barnacles that stood off from the hull by a shocking 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. I usually scrub the barnacles off once a month, but hadn't been able to since my back went out on July 5 this year, so they grew unimpeded. No wonder my racing performance dropped so dramatically this year. These buggers just kept growing and growing.
Sailing home Fiona was a much faster boat -- a nice time getting home!
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Felt weird to start so early, 6 pm instead of 6:15, and still have the sun go down during the race. Very light winds from the south, and the course was VAVAV, which they shortened to VAV. Unfortunately, the wind died as we were rounding A and we couldn't make even this shortened course, so for the first time of the year we had to retire from a race. Bittersweet way to end the racing season, since I'd begun to plan to sell Fiona, my Harbor 20, that I'd raced for the past 6 years.
Sunday, September 26, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
with a bottle of wine. Since it was red, of course I spilled it, but no harm done. Once I got back to the dock, just after sunset, it gave me a good reason to wash the boat's floor, and luckily the red wine came right up! Another beautiful evening, put-putting around, and listening to the Canada geese (noisily) flying south.
Friday, September 24, 2021
Number of days:
1 day
Had a wonderful evening anchored out on our powerboat with my wife and our daughter, who had some work news that we got to celebrate. Beautiful sunset evening watching the boats go by -- and listening to the waves and waves of Canada geese go by. Great to drink bubbles together and hang out -- great way to start the weekend!