I started the 2015 sailing season on March 22, 2015. I completed the Spinsheet Century Club Challenge on November 1, 2015. Initially the idea of participating in the Century Club challenge sounded like an awesome idea, but reaching 100 calendar days seemed daunting. But in early March, I made some back of the envelope calculations for what it would take and then set out on the challenge. It was quite the pace to keep up with and required creativity to find times to get out for a sail, such as many mornings in the summer getting up early for sunrise sails before work, but it was all worth it and added significantly to the 2015 sailing season.
As a member of the Chesapeake Boating Club, I had an opportunity to sail on a wide variety of different models of boats out of Annapolis and Baltimore. My 100 sails consisted of sailing on seven different models of boats (consisting of 9 different J80s, 3 Harbor 20s, 1 Cal 22, 1 Ideal 18, 1 J-105, 2 J-32s, and the 12 meter America's Cup winner '67 and '70 - The Intrepid out of NewPort, which was a highlight of the season. As an alumni of J/World Annapolis, I also worked in some Thursday night racing with J/World on my way to 100. So many thanks to CBC and JWorld Annapolis for helping me reach my goal for the Century Club Challenge.
I had many opportunities over the season to sail with friends and family, as well as to make new friends over sailing. However, to make 100 there were also a lot of solo sails at sunrise or at any other time when there was an open slot of time to fit in a quick sail. Similar to the experiences reported last year by the Centurions, I found the bulk of my sails were done on smaller boats, in my case Harbor 20s, but also having the experience of sailing on a number of larger boats also added to the season. There were many postcard days where the conditions were ideal and I said to myself this is what sailing in Annapolis is all about. There were also some days when the weather was cold or rainy and people would ask are you really planning to go sailing today, but those days were enjoyable, too in their own way. Two highlights from the season included being out on the Severn when the Navy's Blue Angels were practicing and seeing the Hermione when she was anchored in the Severn.
Click here to view Mooney's sailing log.