Last Sail Race for 2011

Yesterday was the Hope Island Race with the SSSS club.  I crewed for Ken on Rushwind, and the other crew was Wendy & Ken Eklund.  As predicted the winds were light and made for some interesting sailing (slow) around Hope Island.  We went clockwise around the island like a few other boats; most of the boats chose the counter-clockwise route.  A couple boats went aground on the reef between Squaxin and Hope, yikes, it sure gets shallow in some parts there.  Then the adverse currents sometimes meant we were going backwards, slowly.. Eventually we made it through the current and back into Dana Passage where the winds picked up and we were sailing along nicely as it was getting dark.  It was chilly most of the day, but since it wasn't wet or very windy it wasn't too bad.  Ken started the heater in the cabin on the way back also, which definitely helped.  We quit about 6pm when the winds died completely and we could only see glassy smooth water between us and the committee boat, maybe 2.5 miles more.  Race certainly could have been better, but we always have fun on Rushwind!
And that ends the 2011 race season.  I think I am ready for some warm weather sailing again too!

Still boatless but looking

Drove to Everett today to look at this boat; lots of possibilities; great liveaboard layout, a few projects but none that seemed daunting.
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1989/Ericson-38-2406016/Everett-Marina/WA/United-States

and next Saturday I think I'll take a look at this one:
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1985/Westerly-Center-Cockpit-2122691/Blaine/WA/United-States

too bad I have to go to work this week; boat shopping is more fun.  Have a great week everyone!

Chilly weekend on Puget Sound - Tacoma to Poulsbo

Since Veteran's day was a holiday, I decided to take Monday off and make a 4 day weekend.  My friend, Kevin invited me to join him on a trip to Poulsbo from Commencement Bay by way of Blake Island.  When we checked the weather report on Friday morning, it was a bit surprising. We knew there was some wind and rain on it's way, but there was a gale warning for the afternoon.  So we quickly got ready and left anyway.  His Fuji 35 could easily handle the possible winds and its always good to practice some sailing in higher winds, right?
We did have a bit of trouble when the wind gusted to over 30 towards the end of the sailing afternoon, and a slow gybe(?) with some choppy waves that picked up due to the winds, meant some tense time when the jib got wrapped wrong and then started flogging wildly.  Fortunately it looks like only the sun cover was damaged, but it does need to be repaired.  It was a very busy day of downwind sailing up Colvos Passage and we were glad to be safely docked at Blake Island.
The wind picked up some during the night, but by morning it had died to almost nothing. There were still 20+ knots predicted for the afternoon but they didn't start until we were over half way to Poulsbo.  We didn't try sailing at that point, we were almost there and the winds were still pretty strong.
After docking safely at the Poulsbo Public Marina we headed to the downtown shops to look for the famous bakery Sluy's Bakery; oh so many goodies to chose some.  Later we had dinner out at the That's Some a Italian restaurant.
On Monday we motored all the way back to Foss Harbor Waterway in Tacoma.  Winds were light and didn't start blowing until we got to Commencement Bay.

Herron Island Race - We Finished!

So normally finishing a race isn't a big deal, and with good winds is a given.  But with light winds all day and adverse current conditions in Dana Passage, and as we neared the south end of Herron Island, it is quite an accomplishment.  Many boats dropped out due to the slow, agonizing conditions of tacking and sliding backwards with the current.  Sometimes there just wasn't enough wind to get through it.  But not Rushwind's skipper Ken.  Oh no he was determined to get to the committee boat, and with just a great all around attitude as a skipper and sailing, it was hard to whine too much.  Although when we we made a loop in Dana Passage (see photo below), and then our zigzagging the last couple hours (we were so close but just couldn't head straight to the finish for long), a couple of us probably would have voted to turn back sooner..........

We finished about 7:40 pm in the dark; the race started at 10 am............  It was a long, chilly day.  Ken made us some soup and bread, we all contributed other snacks we still had, as we motored back (more than 2 hours) and we took shifts eating.  Crew was Erik, Ruth, Wendy & Ken, and me.  Great company, lots of laughs, and lots of practice tacking!  The ride back was actually quite pleasant, clear sky, bright moon, and lots of stars.

Thank goodness it didn't rain at all.  And thankfully, my hot water tank didn't fail me either; long hot bubble bath to end the day was wonderful!

Next race, is Squaxin Island on the 19th.  I told Ken if it or any of the races, it was snowing and blowing, I'm not going!  And I was accused of being spoiled by Erik from spending too much time sailing in Mexico or Hawaii lately.

Halloween 'Cruise' with SSSS at Longbranch Marina

Terri and I left Saturday on her boat Gratitude headed to meet other South Sound Sailing Society sailors at the Longbranch Marina for the annual Halloween Party.  It was a gorgeous fall day with sunshine the whole day.  This also happen to mean no wind so we motored the whole way, about 2.5 hours.

After we got tucked into our spot at the marina, which was a bit tricky the way we were all rafted together, we had a snack and then began to socialize. The party was at 6pm.  It took us a bit longer to get into our costumes, course the constant laughing at each other caused it to take even longer.  I know there will be photos posted on the SSSS site sometime, but here is one I had taken of us.  I hope the others are better of me.  We were Sea Sprites, sort of like water fairies.

Today, after a great waffle and sausage breakfast hosted by SSSS, we headed back with drizzling rain and fog off in the distance.  We hoisted sails after motoring out of the bay and the wind had picked up.  We sailed for at least an hour maybe longer and were tacking back and forth in Dana Passage.
Then after a short starboard tack, Terri wanted to turn back out of the center of channel because the tide was still going out.  Right after we tacked from starboard to port, I looked up to see if the sails were trimmed properly and noticed the upper part of the mast was extremely bent.  Then we noticed that the port shroud and boot were no longer attached to the end of the spreader.  We tacked back fast to a starboard tack to get the pressure off the sails.  Then we furled in the jib quickly and dropped the main shortly thereafter.  Yikes, that could have really been a lot worse if the wind had been any stronger.

Here's one photo of the sea sprites:  (I hope the ones others took were better than this one.....)

 

This second might be a bit better; we picked a sailor walking by to pose with us.  Thanks Steve.

Koosah all decorated for Halloween.

Some photos below taken by Thera Black on the trip back from Longbranch, and before the shroud parted from the port spreader.

Eagle Island Race on Rushwind

Today was the first of the "island series" races.  It was a wet and windy day, fortunately it was relatively warm. Well, warm with long pants and foulies on that is.  We had a great time and a big thank you to Skipper Ken again for having me aboard.  Other crew was Erik, Rod, and Ruth, all new to Rushwind but everyone did great.  We didn't win but a good time was had by all.  The course is 26.5 nm

Ken and Rod

Erik

Ruth

Star sailing season officially over here

The Star sailing for 2011 is over; has been for some time actually for me.  I just go so busy after my July trip that I didn't get out much after that.  I did have a blast whenever I did, and learned alot.

Yesterday was boat bottom cleaning in preparation for the haul out, for me at least.  This is best done laying on the boat or from the dock with a long handle brush.  It has been a while since I have cleaned it, wonder how much growth there is.

Oops, I realized later in the day yesterday that I hadn't cleaned the keel or rudder, so I did that today before #31 got moved over to the staging area for haulout.  Today they hauled the boats out of the water at West Bay Marina so I was helping move boats, etc.  I think I heard there were 20 boats being taken out, so the photos below are only about half of them.  The crane that was used and with all the people helping, I think all the boats were out of the water by 1:30 (started at noon).  Norm and Bill kept the process moving quickly and everyone pitched in to get it done quickly.

Taken from Tugboat Annie's - I was having breakfast while they were waiting for the crane to get there.

Susan, Derek, John, and a couple others taking the mast off of 02-Jazz, John's boat