The Very Last Sail of the Season
Today Joyce and I took the boat out for a last, furtive sail of the 2005 season. We had a bit of wind; when we arrived at the boat around 1PM (winter time...the clocks "fell back" last night) our wind gauge registered gusts of 20+ kts., directly out of the north. That would make backing the boat out of the slip a bit tricky, not to mention how nasty it might be on the Sound.
So we waited about 15 minutes and the wind hit a lull, where it was about 5-10 kts. We quickly started the motor and took off. On the way out of the harbor the breeze was behind us, so we raised just the #2 genny and cut the motor right after we cleared the breakwater. We quickly powered up to 6 kts. on a broad reach.
We had a great sail, with flat seas due to the northerly, and warm (65 degrees) winds that hit 25 knots but averaged around 10-15. We sailed around Charles Island, out to the Devon breakwater, and back to Welches Point before heading home. It was an easy and fun 2 hours of sailing to cap off the season.
I didn't take any photos of Joyce chugging her 18 wine coolers to celebrate the final sail of the year, but trust me...that girl can DRINK!
(No, you idiots, I'm NOT serious...jeez, can't a guy use a bit of artistic license when he's writing?)
Anyway, that's a wrap on the 2005 sailing season. Now it's time to lay up the boat, warm up the rum and cider, and get ready for skiing season.
All in all, it was a VERY good year!
So, the rain finally stopped, but...
...the wind has started blowin' like stink! Jeez, when is there maybe gonna be a little NICE weather for a change? Maybe like a nice sunny day in the 60's, with maybe a 8-12 kts. breeze?
But no, not yet. Sunday the wind averaged in the high 20's to low 30's, with the occasional house-shaking gusts.
This weekend if the weather's good, we might try to get out one more time on the water for a day sail. Then it's going to be time to think about hauling out (sniff).
Can it maybe rain a bit MORE?!?
I remember the good ol' days...when it only rained for 48 or 72 hours straight at a time. Ah, those were good times!
So, it's been raining here for about a week straight! We've gotten about 48 inches of rain so far (I wouldn't trust the accuracy of that number), and it's STILL falling!
I had to go down to the boat and pump out the bilge FIVE times this week, and the way it's pouring down today, I may go there again later. Our boat doesn't have an electric bilge pump, and the water pisses down the mast into the bilge whenever we get a lot of rain. Hence, all the trips to the boat and manual pumping.
This weekend it's a lunar tide, and that, coupled with all the rain is gonna cause some serious flooding. What fun!
Crewing for "Wild Eyes"
Today I raced with "Wild Eyes" in the Around The Buoys Sunday race. They'll have Sunday races through the end of the month. The picture below is from a race in August when I crewed for them.
The weather felt like autumn for the first time this year; a cool, drizzly and hazy day, with a good 10-15 kt breeze from the North, which made for a nice flat surface. Crew was Teri & Pete, me, Lee, Lisa, and Paul.
Teri drove, and did a great job. We had an awesome start, and ran from there. The crew worked together well; we made no mistakes for the first time I can recall, and we beat the next closest boat by over six minutes, including Skibereen, who give Wild Eyes time!
Great race guys!
Looks like Full Tilt will spend at least another week in the slip, 'cause Joyce has to work again next weekend. Well, we had a great season anyway...if it's over, no reason to weep. And maybe we'll get away for one more weekend if the weather's nice before we haul out.
I can't believe it's October already!
Sadly, the sailing season is winding down. We spent the weekend at Port Jefferson, and because of work, it's the last cruising weekend of the season for us.
We had PERFECT weather for October! The sun was out and temps were in the mid-'70's; you can't ask for better than that! We got into PJ around 1PM on Saturday, and took the dinghy into the beach, where we shared a bottle of wine while lying in the sunshine and listening to the Yankees/Red Sox game on the solar radio. Then we returned to the boat for an early dinner of grilled garlic/herb-marinated steak, with a side of macaroni salad.
After supper we visited Vern and Sheila on "Pegasus" for a sunset drink. (The photo above was taken earlier this season, but it is from Port Jeff) Back at our boat we crashed early.
Sunday was another perfect day; we woke, had coffee and cinnamon rolls in bed, then took the dinghy over to Pirate's Cove. We beached it near the dunes and climbed to the top of the bluffs, where we had an unbelievable view of the Sound and shoreline. A sailboat race was crawling along in the light winds right off the Mt. Misery shoal buoy.
We walked the beach and collected shells, then headed back to the boat. I dove with scuba to clean the bottom. The water was still pretty warm, considering it's October. Afterwards we ate lunch, then took the dinghy over to Napper beach, where we listened to both the Yankees/Sox and Giants/Rams games over more wine.
Finally, we packed up around 4PM and headed out. There was almost no wind, so we motored back to Milford, arriving around 6:30.
So, we're pretty much done for the year, except for day sailing on the weekends. The Thursday race series ended last week; we opted out due to awful weather earlier in the day. The skies cleared by late afternoon, but the wind was still honking so we gave it a pass.
We had a great year cruising and racing. We spent a total of eight weekends on the boat, along with a five-day July 4th weekend, and an 8-day cruise in August. Plus, we raced on 17 Thusdays, and competed in the Pierce, Commodore's Cup, and MYC Invitational races. All told, so far we sailed on the boat SIXTY days this season.
Hey, at least we're getting a lot of use out of the boat!
Today Joyce and I took the boat out for a last, furtive sail of the 2005 season. We had a bit of wind; when we arrived at the boat around 1PM (winter time...the clocks "fell back" last night) our wind gauge registered gusts of 20+ kts., directly out of the north. That would make backing the boat out of the slip a bit tricky, not to mention how nasty it might be on the Sound.
So we waited about 15 minutes and the wind hit a lull, where it was about 5-10 kts. We quickly started the motor and took off. On the way out of the harbor the breeze was behind us, so we raised just the #2 genny and cut the motor right after we cleared the breakwater. We quickly powered up to 6 kts. on a broad reach.
We had a great sail, with flat seas due to the northerly, and warm (65 degrees) winds that hit 25 knots but averaged around 10-15. We sailed around Charles Island, out to the Devon breakwater, and back to Welches Point before heading home. It was an easy and fun 2 hours of sailing to cap off the season. 
