Thursday 9/17
Our last Thursday race of the season, since next week we're committee boat for the final race, the Harvest Moon Raftup.
This is a cool photo of a woman and her dog seeming to walk on water, just west of the channel.
Immediately after the start, Arara with Secret behind it both powered up and covered us. We tacked as soon as we could.
Me on the first leg, with Bruce working the port side winch. We gave everyone who wanted to a chance to grind tonight.
Joyce, Liz and Miles, all wearing their crew hats. Today I went through all my leftover
Full Tilt merch (that's short for
merchandise) and found some brand new sweatshirts, which I gave to the crew. After sunset tonight we
needed them!
Speaking of sunsets, here's another in the series. I think I have enough now to make a calendar!
Get your raffle tickets soon!
There are STILL plenty of the 1,000 total raffle tickets left, meaning your odds of winning with even a SINGLE ticket are very reasonable! Email/call me by Sept. 30th to get your tickets! $10 a chance to win a
$1,000 West Marine ocean kayak package! 
If you've enjoyed the videos and the writing on this blog, take a moment and visit my fundraising page for
The Wellness Cup.
What is the Wellness Cup?The Wellness Cup is being held on October 3rd, at the Branford Yacht Club. It is a race that will attract boats from New London, CT to Milford, CT. In 2008, our inaugural race,
$20,000 was raised with the help of out captains, crew, sponsors and volunteers. We are fortunate to have world-class sailor Gary Jobson lending his name to the event as well as the support from many well known, exceptional manufacturers and publications from the sailing industry.
Who will benefit from the proceeds of the Wellness Cup?All proceeds will benefit the Wellness Community
of Southern Connecticut (TWC-SCT).
The
Wellness Community of Southern Connecticut facility will be located along the shoreline and will service all of Southern Connecticut. To open our doors, we need a minimum of $500,000, of which twenty percent has been raised. TWC programs are designed to help ALL cancer patients/survivors and their loved ones in a "home" style setting and are all FREE of charge - NO insurance required. TWC provides professionally-led support groups, educational workshops, and stress reduction programs that include exercise and mind/body practices. TWC-SCT has already conducted several local educational programs in conjunction with Yale, St. Raphael’s, and other hospitals. The first TWC opened its doors in 1982 in Southern California and has expanded to include 23 communities worldwide, 28 satellites and online support. The dream for the Southern Connecticut facility began in the summer of 2006.
Any amount is welcome, so please consider
tossing a few bucks to this very worthy cause by clicking on the link and pressing the online
"Make a Contribution" button. (If you do it, I'll try to refrain from posting so many goofy pictures of myself like the one below!)
(update: or I'll post
MORE of them; anything that makes you happy!)
Thank you! - Bob Adams
Thursday 9/10
Finally, some breeze!
We had 15-25 kts out of the east for this overcast race. Only about 6 or 7 boats started. Annaliese was the RC boat, and they anchored along the Gulf Beach area to stay out of the worst of the waves. The course was NEWS, which meant a downwind start to the channel marker, and then a single loop around the course.
Bruce and Janel, with either Joyce or Liz up front.
This was the only time this year we reefed the main, and we also had our #2 genny up, so we were seriously powered down. It hurt us in the Gulf, which was somewhat protected from the wind, but after we rounded E and had to beat to W, we were mighty glad we had the reduced sails. Especially when coming off the 4-6 ft waves that were rolling in under us!
Me, looking like I'm having fun. Because I was having it. Fun, that is.
Lee, ducking under the lifelines to check for our line to the next mark.
Heading downwind we were flying through the water. I really wish I wasn't so busy steering so I could have shot some video!
Miles and Lee, after the race. We finished the race in only 25 minutes! I'd have liked them to send us around twice, but I got the feeling the RC wasn't all that thrilled to be out there, so I wasn't going to argue. We ended up sailing around for about another 1/2 hour before heading in. Fun night!
Anchoring at Charles Island
Last Friday (the 4th) we anchored the boat at the island. Joyce had to work Sunday, and I'm on 24-hour call for work, so we couldn't go far. And since the weather was nice, we anchored by the island.
John & Celeste aboard
Witchcraft came over and rafted up to us right around sunset. We broke out the bottle of rum we won during last year's Wellness Cup, since I'm superstitious and think if we don't finish the bottle we won last year, we won't win another
this year! We didn't finish it, but we put a good sized dent in it, and I'm certain we'll have no problem dispatching with the rest shortly.
A spectacular full moon rose over the Sound, and towards 10PM our friends left to anchor on their own for the night. The next morning, we noticed that several boats were arriving and rafting up together. Most of them were flying rainbow flags, and (unsurprisingly) the crews seemed to be comprised mostly of same-sexed individuals.
It turns out that a little research when we got home early that evening (I Googled "gay and sailing and charles island") I found a link to something called the
"Knickerbocker Sailing Association", which is a gay and lesbian-oriented sailing club. They had planned a raft-up to Milford/Charles Island for the Labor Day weekend.
After we left Saturday night, the weather changed dramatically. The wind shifted to the east at 15-20 kts, and that night two men took a double kayak out from the beach for a full moon midnight cruise. Apparently their kayak swamped and, unable to right it, they tried to swim to safety. Sadly, one of them was lost, and despite the massive search that was initiated early Sunday, is still missing and presumed drowned.
It's very tragic, but should serve as a reminder that you should always wear a PDF when kayaking.
Thursday 9/03
Another light wind Thursday, but we had a nice sail anyway.
Summerwind was Race Committee last night. There was a fairly good turnout for the race.
Lee, his guest Gigi, and Bruce relax before the first warning.
An early sunset and light breeze made for a quick race; TWNS was it.
After the race a nearly full moon rose, and the wind freshened a bit, so we decided to sail around in the twilight.
The colors are amazing this time of year. Because we're almost at equinox, the twilight lasts much longer than during mid-summer.
Gigi had a great time helming the boat while Janel enjoys a smoke.
Speaking of smokes, the skipper has a cigar while being illuminated by the last bit of twilight. I had to push the manual ASA setting to 1600 to capture this image, which is why it's both blurry and grainy.
Some vacation photos
A few photos from our vacation to the wine region of the North Fork of Long Island:
Joyce enjoys a taste of the Cabernet at one of the ten or so wineries we rode to on our folding bikes.
Some people have G.P.S., but on my bicycle handlebars I used "
CheapP.S." to find the many wineries that dotted the map.
A Shelter Island scallop shell, on a beautiful beach off Ram Island County Park.
My Heineken Light matches my kayak. It's important to accessorize properly, you know.
Joyce kayaks near the historic Old Mill Restaurant, which sadly, is closed on Tuesdays. Guess which day it was that this photo was taken?
Me, pretending that I know the first thing about clarity of wines. It tasted good, which is all I need to know.
Joyce takes a puff of my Long Island Cigar Company madura-wrapped corona. Now, I
do know a think or two about cigars.
A very dismal forecast encouraged us to leave a day and a half early, which judging from the sky here, was the right thing to do. We got home Friday afternoon, watched it rain most of Saturday, and went out for a nice sail on Sunday. Good vacation!
This is a cool photo of a woman and her dog seeming to walk on water, just west of the channel.
Immediately after the start, Arara with Secret behind it both powered up and covered us. We tacked as soon as we could.
Me on the first leg, with Bruce working the port side winch. We gave everyone who wanted to a chance to grind tonight. 
Joyce, Liz and Miles, all wearing their crew hats. Today I went through all my leftover Full Tilt merch (that's short for merchandise) and found some brand new sweatshirts, which I gave to the crew. After sunset tonight we needed them!
Speaking of sunsets, here's another in the series. I think I have enough now to make a calendar!
