Summer Race #2

Wednesday 7/27/2011

Steady NNW wind at 6-10 knots. Current started flooding around 18:00. Course was from H to 26 to 24 to H. A & B sailed to K instead of 24.

It was a beautiful summer evening to be sailing. Just enough wind to keep boats moving. There were some nice clouds above to give the setting sun a palette to spread its glory. A sun dog appeared on this rainless evening.  Sailboats were spread all across the river with full sails. The Clearwater herself was out for a jaunt and she looked like the mother hen with all her chicks playing about. 

Every sense was entertained this evening. The scene was a treat for the eyes. The gentle lapping of water on the hull was sweet music. The life of the land was carried over the water to the nose. The gentle warm breeze on the skin made the scratchy winter gear a distant memory. Even the Schaeffer tasted better on this night.

It was a sailor’s evening. I have been interested in the new trawlers that are on the market. I thought to myself that it would make a great boat to do the Great Loop in. I had pictured myself in the future cruising the rivers and canals that cross America. I realized sailing on this special evening that I would not want the diesel beast to be my only means of propulsion. While the tugs look nice and serene in pictures, they are still powered by diesel. I cannot fully free myself from the preoccupations of the modern world while under power from such a damaging substance. I get few chances to connect with nature and it is impossible to do so when carcinogens are spewing from the stern.

This is not my normal thinking on the matters. I am in the middle of Moby Dick. Melville points out the conflict in the churches in his day. They speak of benevolence, yet they light their nights with the oil from dead whales. He said that in every gallon of oil burned there was a drop of fisherman’s blood. As he writes about the horrors of whaling on both the whalers and the whales, it is ironic that the places of worship lit the night with the very same substance that caused so much pain.

So, I may never make the leap from sail to motor, though I will still reserve that right and avoid any proclamations to the contrary. On this evening, I was in the perfect place on the perfect vehicle. It was another great moment on the water. It is too rare that I get the chance to have careless thoughts floating through my head while I carelessly float on the water.

There was also a race. The race committee had good course selection. Both fleets finished around the same time which is always appreciated on Pizza night. The Race Marshall was setup on the port side of the line. I prefer they setup on the starboard side. Click here to read why. Surprise became mark K since it was missing.

Summer Race #1

Wednesday 7/20/2011

Healthy SE breeze between 10 and 15 knots. A&B sailed to K twice around and C went from H to K to G to H. Current was ebbing all race.

We left the marina and immediately hoisted the sails. With the wind from the SE, we had a nice tight reach out to the starting area. Gusto was on station early and we passed by them on our way to get some upwind readings.

Sailing upwind, we did a tack or two before we caught the old jib on the mast. The ring that holds the whisper pole to the mast had caught on an existing tear in the jib and gave us a new window on the back of the jib. After 4 years and over 2,000 tacks my favorite sail ever was toast. I had ordered a new one a few weeks ago, so it was finally time to make the change. We were able to make the change with about 10 minutes to go to our start.

With new jib flying nicely, I focused on the start. We passed by the RM with about 2 minutes to go on port. We were sailing into the entire fleet while they were on starboard. Having been at the RM with 2 minutes to go, I had a good idea of when to tack to make the RM on time. When you sail in on starboard for a few minutes, it is much tougher to know if you are early or late. We passed the four early boats and then tacked in front of the late boats.

My spot was not ideal since a leeward boat could have taken me up, but there were none to contend with. At the start, we won the boat and led the fleet out to the left. I wanted to protect the left side from the Bugaboo move. In case you did not read this in the past, the Bugaboo move is an unexplained advantage boats get going left in the SE breeze. Even the stronger ebb to the right does not overcome this affect. We did see some of the reason for the affect as we came in from the port side and got lifted as we sailed into the mark on port. It is still a mystery to me.

The competition followed us in the same direction. I am not sure why no one tried the right side. We were ready to cover anyone that headed right and this could have allowed other boats to gain, but since everyone followed us, it was simply a drag race around the course. When you start ahead, a drag race is perfect.

The reaches were fun, but uneventful. We finished the race and noticed Jesse was taking some video while up in the rigging. I remember doing that in 1989 at the end of a Block Island race when we were hopelessly behind. It makes for some cool video.

We continued sailing after the race. We sailed on a beat up to Croton point before turning downwind and doing some nice long broad reaches back and forth across the river. When night fell, we headed into our slip and called it a night.

The RM was excellent once again. The Race Marshalls have run some great races the last couple of weeks. I hope this continues.

Spring Race #10

Wednesday 7/13/2011

Good breeze starting at 10-15 from the WNW building to 15-20 with puffs up to 25 knots.  The current was flooding.  Course was from H to 26 to K to H.  Full Moon course was from H to 26 to 24 to H.

I arrived at the marina early this week to fix a winch.  When I arrived, the bottom was nice and clean.  This was the first time I paid to have the bottom cleaned and it was well worth it.  The temperature was a nice 80 degrees and the light breeze in the harbor made working on the boat pleasant. 

Two of the paw springs on my primary winch had lost their spoke.  This caused the paws to not stick out and catch anymore.  Luckily I had replacement springs on hand and was able to fix the issue quickly.  I took the time to clean and grease the primaries hoping to avoid any future issues.  Everything went smooth this time, but be careful with those little springs.  About three years ago, I lost a spring overboard and had to fashion a new spring since the old ones are no longer available.  Draping a towel over the lifelines will help keep those little springs from liberating themselves to the sea.

We then headed out to the race area.  We immediately set the main in the lee by the harbor.  We lost a hat and were unable to recover it before it sank.  The breeze was fresh and took us to the Race Marshal quickly.  When we got there, the line was skewed, but the RM corrected this before the start.

We had a nice start to the race and were able to keep the lead up to the first mark.  We saw a port-starboard incident, but were too far away to know what happened.  If anyone else saw that, please add a comment.

Rounding 26 was easy since the current helped push us north.  Once we turned downwind, we winged the jib and sailed straight for K.  The wind got lighter before building to close to 20 knots for the final upwind leg.  The last leg was a nice ride to the finish.  We were near Hard A Tack who seemed to be having another great race.  I am always pulling for them since they are a boat that is constantly out there sailing to get more experience.  Their effort is paying off well.

After the race, we sailed around and had a sandwich before the full moon race began.  The moon rose around 20:00 and the full moon race began.  The wind was still up in the 15-20 knot range and it was a tough slog to 26.  The flooding current working against the breeze was building up some nice square waves. 

We finished the race and headed straight in.  We were all a bit tired from the fresh breeze.  It was a great night of racing.  We don’t get too many heavy air nights this time of year.

Both race committees did a great job.  Matty Mozar of A Line Up volunteered to do the full moon race on short notice and pulled it off without a hitch.

I believe the radio interference we are getting is coming from the Hudson National Golf Club.  I spoke to the FCC again Thursday morning and they indicated that they would monitor the area again the week of August 1st.  So it looks like we will have a few more weeks of interference.  Please try anything you can to get through to these people that they should not be using a marine radio.

http://www.hudsonnational.org/club/scripts/library/view_document.asp?GRP=949&NS=PUBLIC&APP=80&DN=EMPLOYMENT