Another great sail!

We went back down to the lake this afternoon.  This time I thought we'd have an easy, relaxing sail so I rigged the blade and shook out the reef in the main.  Ha!  When we got down to the south end of the lake the wind picked up dramatically! 

Lots of twist in the puffs tonight.  Just before a puff would hit, going north, it would twist off into a header, then as it hit I'd have to quickly turn up.  Pretty sure it was just the opposite going south.

Did a close pass astern of Dean on Stairway.  Thought we were going to be clear ahead when we hit a lull that made us lose speed and turn toward him.  Since he was on Starboard I dropped down and slid behind him close enough to wave as we went by.

Not sure whether I like the blade/main or 135/reefed main combination better.  I lean toward the latter but we did hit 6.86 knots tonight according to the plotter.  I think it lies.

Maximum speed:	7.9 mph (6.86 knots)
Average speed:	6.1 mph

Second time I planned to fly the kite (on a string, not the gennaker) but there was more wind than I cared to try with. Maybe next time . . .

What a terrific sail!

Today's forecast called for fairly light winds, building to maybe 8 or 9 mph by 6 PM. Since it was going to be so light I rigged the 135 instead of the blade. Turned out to be ok for our little harbor but once we'd been on the lake a while things started to get interesting. Both of us were on the rail, the boat was heeling hard, and we were running around 6 knots, traveler dumped about as far as it would go. As the wind built we beat our way into the harbor, where there was a bit of lee from the wind, and reefed the main. Then back out into the fray, which included whitecaps! And still Deborah didn't freak out!

Only downside was her hitting her butt hard on the curve where the deck rolls down into the seat. I think the boat came up as she sat during a windy tack and she was NOT happy. I thought she'd sat on the traveler cleat but that wasn't it. Just a really hard smack on the tip of her spine.

Stats from the airport a couple miles away showed a max of 14 mph, Eugene Yacht Club showed average of 9.2 with gusts to 17 but it was somewhat protected. Given the state of the water I'm guessing they were both a bit light. At various times we sustained 6.2 to 6.5 knots with brief jumps up to 6.6 and 6.7. Mostly me on the rail working the tiller, sheet and traveler, her on the seat (after we reefed) working the cross sheeted jib. The 135 & reefed main worked way better than I expected. What a blast!

The Marina is Open!

Yesterday was the grand re-opening of the new and improved Richardson Park Marina.  $1M bond measure, to be retired out of the slip fees, paid for beautiful new docks.  They're galvanized steel with Trex boards and they look terrific.  No splinters and they're also much more stable than the old ones.
The county even asked me to take the pictures and document the event!

We made a point of getting to the lake early so we could sneak over from Orchard Point and get a spot on the transient dock.  No problem, we were the first ones there!

Dean's Stairway was looking good.

There were speeches and a ribbon cutting ceremony

Then Dean docked Stairway as the inaugural boat.

Next they fired off the cannon to announce that the marina was open!

We had a little boat parade

Then we docked the boats!

And then there was picnic served from a garbage truck!

The new slips are great! 

Gone sailing

We got out twice this week! 

Wednesday evening Deborah and I went down to the lake after work.  We motored over to Richardson and checked out the new docks.  They look great!  While we were there, we took advantage of the protection from the wind and hanked on the mainsail.  Then it was off for an hour and half of sailing around the lake on just the main. 

Yesterday (Saturday) we took Gaby along and went for a great afternoon sail.  The wind was just about perfect and we spent a lot of time near 6 knots.  Gaby steered for the first bit, including while we raised the sails.  Rig tension looks about right, though I might give the starboard lower about 1/2 turn.

I tried the GoPro mounted on the boom.  I think I like that better than the rail.

Prep done, boat launched!

I've been just a bit busy since my last post.  First order of business last weekend (April 28/29) was getting the tarp off and starting to clean up the outside of the boat.  But wait, first I had to go to Sears, Home Depot, Western Tool, Knechts, and finally CarQuest to find a power sander/polisher, polishing compound, etc.  That set me back almost $200! 

Once the tarp was off I started cleaning the hull.  First a good scrubbing with an Oxalic Acid based cleaner which did a great job on the tannin/algae stains.  Then I spent some quality time with the buffer and polish.  It took me a while to get it right, as I was applying it too thickly, but I eventually got the oxidation pretty well cleaned up.  Next I went over it again with StarBrite polish with PETN (Teflon) and it came out awesome.

  
The next day was bottom painting day.  Two quarts of VC17-m in Blue.  I got 2 good coats and I've got just a bit left for touchups.  I also went with a different kind of roller this year.  They're thicker foam but only about an inch in diameter.  Much better than the ones I used last time, plus they get into the joint between the keel & hull.

The blue based paint goes on much darker than the penny bright red did last time. 

This weekend (May 5/6) was all about getting the boat ready to launch.  I cleaned the deck with a mixture of Dawn (blue), white vinegar, and water.  It worked pretty well but the @#$@#$@ marks from the leaf pods that blew in did not come clean.  The Oxalic acid didn't help either.  Grrr.

After the cleaning I decided I needed to go over the hull one more time with the StarBrite.  What a job that turned out to be.  For some reason it doesn't seem to dry very well on the vinyl stripe.  It took forever and I went through about a dozen microfiber towels trying to wipe it clean.  Finally got done around dinner time, gassed the truck and the boat up, inflated the tires, and called it a day.

Sunday was launch day.  I drove up to get Zach (Krista had the car) and we towed the boat down to Orchard Point.  Set up went ok.  We did have to drop the mast after I realized that I had the forestay inside the sling.  Oops.

Strap launching at Orchard is a bit more intense than at Richardson.  The ramps are narrow and there's about 10,000 power boats trying to launch/retreive.  Still, we got in ok and the motor actually started on the 2nd pull.  Yay!




Put the boat in the temporary slip without too much trouble.  Not sure I like sharing with a bigger, dirtier boat, but oh well.  Wind was blowing hard off the stern so we didn't put the sail on, but everything else is pretty much ready.  Hooray!