Century Club: Tim Ford

Well, some of us showed up when we'd missed a two or three races in a row and it destroyed Incommunicado's streak of bullets.  We took second instead, which isn't too shabby when you consider our major CF on the first spinn set. 

I was expecting a consistent 10 kns from the east and instead we had 10-16 which had me regretting I had not brought bibs along, as of course, I took a wave that soaked my (cotton) pants.

Note to self:  be prepared

Not having run the little 4-stroke for probably six months, at least, I was worried it wouldn't work due to ethanol/petrol mixture separating and gumming up the works.  Once in a while over the winter I'd remember to grab the engine and violently shake it back and forth to re-mix the blend that I'd left in the fuel tank....but not very often.

So it was with some level of trepidation that I mounted the OB and started yanking on the pull starter. Rats, no go. It usually starts on the 2nd or third try.  Then I realized what an idiot I am.  Sometime over the winter II had detached the KILL SWITCH cord and stowed it god-only-knows where.  I definitely did not have it in the car.

Then I got the bright idea of fabricating an emergency switch insert out of cardbaord...and it WORKED!

So I put about an hour on the motor at all speeds and visitied the beach, too.  I love having a sailboat that is beachable and draws about nine inches with the board up.

As I came in, I watched an Osprey chase a Blue Heron all over the creek.  I don't know what these two were fighting about, probably just territory and fishing rights.

Man, some days the NOAA forecast is spot-on, some days it's from Outer Space...

Wed morning, I was a little concerned b/c the Fx was for 10-15 gusts to 20 and I knew we were shorthanded, meaning the boat would be on her ear all evening and it would be wet outside of the cockpit.  Well, there was breeze earlier, but like that really attractive person you dated in 1977, each squall brought in some level of optimism and excitement, but soon departed and left you absolutely nothin.'

It was super light. But major MAJOR props to the the MRSA RC for getting a race in. 

They didn't shorten exactly according to the RRS, but hey come on, it's Wednesday Night and live with it.  Someone took offense to the tactics the RC adopted on the fly, and had to mention over VHF that it wasn't exactly kosher.  And yeah, they were right, but they lost any sort of moral victory.

Fact is, the "racing" was painful and folks were happy to cross the finish line.

Nice night otherwise and I did get a little "boat work" in, prior to MRSA.

Seems like, lately, every week when I get a chance to be on the water, there's a gale warning.  I got to PSA around 11:15 and did a chore I'd been putting off for a while, e.g., inserting 2 pressure treated 2x6's under the winch that pulls the i550 out of the creek.  Of course, this took a lot longer than I had anticipated, such is doing any boat-related chore.

Decided to kayak to the back end of the creek to eat lunch.  Ticket to fighting 15-20, puffs to 30+, was stick real close to shore and paddle like crazy when crossing any exposed places.  A paddle hooked into a fallen cedar was sufficient to hold still and chow down for 15 minutes. Then I decided to tuck into the very back of the creek.  A mating pair of osrey were not welcoming and created quite a racket.

Next was get to Incommunicado for the first MRSA WNR for us (we did RC last week).  I always marvel at how the first race is always ALWAYS in 15-25, puffs to 30.  And that would've been the ticket for last night, except MRSA wisely called off the race.  Doing so, you always hear from at least one boat that second-guesses the RC.  And as luck would have it, the breeze did lay down, pretty much, for the hours in which we'd have been on the course.  But then it built again with gusts into the low and mid 30s. 

Look, it's a Wednesday Night PHRF race.  Why run the risk of someone getting hurt, or worse, for a week night handicap race?  

It just isn't worth it.  Good call  MRSA.