Our Ba De Ya Sail! Winds were kicking. Out of the North at 10-15 with gusts in the 20's or better. Sunny day - beautiful skies with a temperature of 73 - so a bit cooler. Pushed the first mate to go out - she doesn't always like the heavier winds, but we discussed how important it is to practice with these kinds of winds in a somewhat "controlled" environment. We sailed out at 11 am - down into the Chester River from Davis Creek. We took some time at every point of sail - even running with a preventer set up. Had the full main up - probably should have reefed that, but did have the Genoa furled up to a Jib which made Bubbles really very manageable. After 4 hours of sailing in the Chester, we headed back up Langford creek and anchored at Cacaway Island for a bit before heading in.
Century Club: Tom Dean
Pulled out of the slip at 10:45 with the ful crew. Winds were light, swirly, but mostly out of the west 5-10 knots. Temperature was 76 under partly cloudy skies. Wanted to get some crew time in - letting the first mate take the helm for a while with me handling sails, and then reversing roles. Almost put up the gennaker, but wind wasn't all that reliable, so decided not to. A nice day of practice under light winds.
Well, very little wind on Saturday, so I had to settle for a paddle Board trip out Davis Creek and up Langford creek and around Cacaway Island and back. Lovely day - nice and warm - just no wind. Had to dodge the wake of many a powerboat - but didn't fall!
Sailed on over to the Magothy - up by the horse farm from Lankford Bay Marina for the weekend. We met up with some sailors we had met through the upper Chesapeake bay sailing Facebook group - Yvonne and Charlie. Had to motor most of the way over as we had west ward winds for the most part - but did get the Genoa up for a while. Had a couple great paddle on the SUP on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. Pulled anchor Sunday about noon and sailed the entire way back to Lankford Bay with nice SW and then S winds. Too many idiot powerboaters out though…. Got back to Lankford bay about 6. All in all a great weekend!
Got to 100 hours earlier than usual this year so spent the day changing the oil, putting in a new impeller (one fin broken - so smart to check) and changing fuel filters. Found out after starting the engine up that the oil filter wa missing. Gasket - luckily, caught it quick and not too much mess. One hour job took 3 all told with the cleanup. Went out for a paddle afterwards.
Another SCA - another good day to practice. This time the winds were more 10+ knots with gusts up to 20. We went out with a reefed headsail, but a full main. First mate took the helm again - and seemed much more relaxed after the previous days experience... much more understanding about how the boat was handling... a good instructional kind of day for us. I also played around with the Jib/Genoa cars - think I have a better idea about them now!.
Also saw the CG out repairing the Day Mark for Langford Creek!!
Tuesday August 20 there was a small craft advisory out - winds were out of the NW 10-15 with gusts well above 25 knots. We needed to get some full crew time in this type of weather, so we headed out with a reefed main and head sail. It was cool and gnarly out there - but we had a good time and the first mate got some needed "heavy weather" time at the helm. Going out of the slip was a bit rough, but coming in was good!
The first mate recently retired and evidently she had shared with a family that we had a sailboat in Rock Hall and invited them to come over if they were in town. Well, they were vacationing in Rock Hall and they contacted her - so we arranged a sail with them. Her former student - Derek brought his father and grandfather along and we had a marvelous time. We went out Davis Creek, down Langford Creek and out into the Chester befrore turning and heading back. Got the sails up, but were pretty much motor sailing as there was little wind. Her former student had a ball - spent most of the time at the bow of the boat - when he wasn't behind the wheel!
Received the parts to fix the Autopilot - so did that in the morning and then of course we had to go out and test! Left the dock at 11 - sailed for a bit and then went over and anchored outside of Cacaway Island. The Autopilot worked great!
Needed to get some fuel, and since there was little to no wind, it was a perfect day to do some crew practice getting in and out of the slip. Got a few kinks worked out and things are much smoother now - whichever way we decided to come into the slip!