Full Tilt Sailing Team

Shelton underground

2011-07-19T09:07:00.019-04:00

Here's some photos of our kayak trip exploring Derby/Shelton, and especially the creepy tunnels under some of the old factories in Shelton.

Joyce is paddling in front of the Derby hydroelectric dam where we put in and began our journey.

Inside an abandoned lock on the Shelton side just below the dam.

Joyce is inside the lock. The walls were nearly 20 feet high.

Janel paddled right up to the second broken lock and let the water cascade onto her bow.

The entrance to one of the four or five industrial tunnels we explored on the Shelton side.

Inside the tunnel. It was creepy, with assorted cobwebs and shit hanging from the ceiling. We used our paddles to clear the way.

Derek floats in another room below the old factory.

Some areas were spacious and had plenty of room; others were so low you had to duck, and you couldn't paddle because it was so narrow.

Back into the light! Did I mention I get claustrophobic?

And right back into another tunnel! Because apparently I'm a masochist.

There was some kind of rotted metal hanging from the ceiling on the left, which was a bit worrying. You probably can guess that it's not entirely safe to be poking around in some of these places.

Ahhh! Back outside on the open river, where a person can relax.

Oh shit! Another tunnel! This one was some kind of river tunnel, obviously built more recently than those stone-arch tunnels. This one went about five hundred feet and included a bend to the left before coming out...

...here, which appears to be some kind of old canal or something. There was a second tunnel beyond it. Which Derek and I obviously had to explore.

The second tunnel had some kind of spillway we needed to port over, but about ten feet in, the water was deep enough to paddle.

Deeper in that tunnel it reverted to an old stone tunnel. There was some kind of water spilling out ahead.

Which is where we turned around, because we didn't want to have to bail our kayaks out.

Finally, back onto the river and into the light...for good, this time!

Me, just chillin' on the river. No need to rush now. Just a nice relaxing trip down to Milford.

As the tide was going out Janel and Derek took a ride down a sluceway from a pond that emptied into the river.

It was a great trip!

WAH II

2011-07-15T10:57:00.002-04:00

We're back from vacation just in time for the Woman at the Helm Race #2. Janel wanted to helm the boat tonight, and Joyce said "no problem".

The B class started right before us.

Janel, Lee, and Derek as Janel steers immediately before the prestart.

Joyce was our bowgirl for the race.

A happy Janel near the end of the race, which took place in advanced conditions for her; apparent wind of 20kts. at times. But she did great and it was a fun race.

Oh yeah, that reminds me

2011-07-12T08:19:00.003-04:00

I have to send Joyce up to the top of the mast to recalibrate the wind indicator.

The chores on a sailboat never end. But it's totally worth it.

Joyce at the helm

2011-06-25T10:19:00.002-04:00

During the first Woman at the Helm race, Joyce steered nicely through variable conditions.

It feels great to be back upon the water!

A fun race with a good turnout. Results are on the Windjammers website.

Long Island Sleighride

2011-06-05T11:33:00.003-04:00

...and coming back to Milford yesterday, the wind went from 7 kts. to over 30 in about two minutes! We're getting those May winds in June this year.

Finally!

2011-05-21T17:19:00.001-04:00

Now THIS is frickin' Rapture!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2011-04-14T19:39:00.004-04:00

Well, it mostly is.

Because today I took the cover off the boat! And, for the first time, it was warm enough to wear shorts!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Of course, now the REAL work begins! Time to start on the spring commissioning. Painting, repairing, and cleaning the boat. I'm hoping to get it all done in four weeks or less.

We'll see!

Just watching this video makes me happy!

2011-04-06T22:23:00.003-04:00

Soon enough, soon enough.

BTW, Joyce won an anchor in the Defender raffle when we went there last week. It's a 14 lb. Lewmar Delta high holding anchor, costs about $135. I want to sell it, but to tell you the truth, it's a great anchor that might be a useful addition when we're cruising.

UPDATE: We quickly unloaded it via Craigs List for 90 bucks. Minus the $29 we spent on shipping and tax, that'll pay for a tasty dinner in PJ for us; if we don't drink too much, that is!

Almost time to take the cover off

2011-03-31T10:49:00.002-04:00

Getting close now! Tomorrow I'm going to the big warehouse sale at Defender, to buy a $240 gallon of paint! Oh, boy!

Meanwhile, we have this to look forward to in a couple short months:

It's a looong winter!

2011-02-09T13:25:00.003-05:00

It's not even Valentine's Day, and I've already had to clean the snow off the boat cover about eight times! I'm done with Winter and ready for Spring.

I'm sure if we keep getting snow, this is what it'll look like on the Sound next Summer:

Full Tilt pizza bash!

2010-12-26T18:03:00.004-05:00

We got together with most of our crew for a holiday season pizza dinner at Jimmy's Pizza earlier this month.

Lee wasn't able to make it, but we were joined by (clockwise from top left) Derek, Mike Gardocki (who crewed with us during The Wellness Cup), Mike Kivell (who helped me transport the boat to BYC the day before the TWC regatta in a 40 kt. breeze), Janel, me and Joyce. Good time and a good way to end the 2010 season.

So, during the past year, we sailed on the boat a total of 55 days, raced on 16 days, and over-nighted a total of 20 nights. We kayaked all over Port Jefferson harbor, biked all around the North Fork wine country, took the train to Greenport from Mattituck, swam from our anchored boat to Sand City Island in Huntington Bay, anchored off of Charles Is. several nights, and paddled all around Eaton's Neck.

It was a really great year!

Kayaking on Lake Lillanonah

2010-10-08T09:36:00.004-04:00

Joyce had yesterday off from work, so we decided to take advantage of the perfect autumn weather and go kayaking on Lake Lillanonah.

Joyce readies her kayak at the West Street marina launch ramp, just below the New Milford dam.

The marina is located in a quiet inlet. We took a few minutes to explore it before heading out into the river.

This is one of three boats that zoomed by us within seconds of each other near the marina. It was the only motor boat traffic we saw all day.

Me at the railroad bridge near New Milford. This is the track that crosses the main road in New Milford center.

Joyce passes under the same RR about 1 mile downriver, near an inlet by the abandoned silex works by Lover's Leap State Park.

Joyce in the Lover's Leap gorge, under the historic bridge.

In the gorge, Joyce pauses beside the high sheer wall.

The requisite self-portrait. Just because.

After passing through, the lake opened up and became very picturesque. In another two weeks or so the forest will be blazing with colors.

We saw several crew teams practicing on the river. That, and a couple kayakers was the extent of all the traffic we saw the entire way.

Joyce pauses to view some of the wildlife around the lake.

We saw a number of big blue herons. One was sitting on someone's dock, and it was so big and still, we thought it was carved out of wood. It startled the hell out of us when it took flight as we got near. The bird must have been five feet tall!

Joyce shot this photo with the sun completely washing out the LCD screen. She just pointed the camera and clicked it. Turned out OK, dontcha think?

Late in the day we kept expecting to see the bridge near our haul-out spot every time we rounded a corner. The sun was getting low and the shadows long when we finally spotted the RT 133 bridge in Bridgewater.

We hauled out where we left my car, at the public launch ramp right near the bridge. After tying the kayaks onto the rack, we had to go back to New Milford to pick up Joyce's car.

It was a very good day.

The post-race Party

2010-10-04T08:45:00.002-04:00

The results are in, we won 1st place in our division by roughly 9 minutes. In a five hour race that isn't necessarily a huge margin.

Joyce, Janel and me, with the eminently practical "trophy".

Close-up of the engraved mug. The beer tasted sweeter than 2nd place!

View from the deck. The weather was decent, but not nearly as nice as race day was.

The big raffle. Joyce won a harvest flower arrangement, but Mike snagged the Pentax digital camera, and his gal Nancy won the giant wine cache! It was a good day for them!

Janel with the perfunctory "Dark 'n Stormy", which described the weather when I brought the boat over on Friday.

Did I mention how good the beer tastes out of a 1st Place mug?

The Wellness Cup regatta

2010-10-03T12:21:00.005-04:00

Saturday was our last scheduled race for this season, in the 3rd annual Wellness Cup. Here's a few photos:

"Wild Eyes" leaving the harbor for the start.

The crew on leeward rail, trying to get the boat over to the magic 15 degree mark!

Me, steering and not barking orders for once.

Derek at Faulkner's Island, where our first mark was located.

Post-race you can see Janel jackassing her way into my self-portrait.

Derek steering us home. The longer distance course has Pond Pt. as a mark, so we got to see some of them rounding as we headed back to Milford.

Mike Gardocki joined us for the race.

Janel, Joyce and Derek relaxing after the 5+ hour long race.

Two boats near the Pond Point mark.

These guys on "Evil Monkey" had a bit of a problem with their chute, and ended up redeploying it. UPDATE: They still won!

Results will be known later today at the party. We were first across the line but we don't know how we did on corrected time against the other four boats in our class. It definitely isn't a sure win like the last two years were.

Thursday 9/30

2010-10-01T08:55:00.005-04:00

Wind and rain lashed the area today, and the club decided to cancel the final race of the season. All told, we only missed the two races that were canceled for weather, two races while we were on vacation, and one while I was involved in shooting a student film.

Other than that, we've made every single race this year, probably our best season yet. There were 20 scheduled races, 18 actually started, and we did 15 of them.

Last Friday we went over to PJ for an overnighter. The weather was perfect, near 80 degrees both days. We took our kayaks out of the harbor to the beach just east of the entrance, then walked about a mile down the beach towards Mt. Sinai. It was awesome.

Coming back Saturday morning, we crossed a big race heading west to east just off of Long Island. And we got a nice shot of Middle Ground Light, too.

Friday if the storm clears I'll transport the boat over the Branford in advance of Saturday's Wellness Cup Regatta. The weather for Saturday looks perfect, especially for October!

Thursday 9/22

2010-09-28T11:00:00.004-04:00

Janel was on injured reserves this week, so she took all the pictures. Great job, too!

Lee steering the boat prior to the start.

Joyce getting windblown on the bow during the pre-start sequence.

Me steering, taken from inside the cabin. We had a bit of a breeze that night, so we moved really well.

Derek successfully photographed by Janel.

A pre-sunset image.

Pale Rider glides by the sun. The camera sucks at extreme zoom, and there are dust specs on the CCD, which won't go away until I have the camera taken apart. I'm not willing to do it myself because I'm sure I'll mess it up.

After the sunset, a moonrise followed.

Lee after the race. We had a good showing tonight, with a full main and the #2 jib. Great race! Course was NW4, lots of windward/leeward. After the race, there was a Harvest Moon dock party at Port Milford.

Thursday 9/16

2010-09-16T18:37:00.002-04:00

Ah, nope. We decided it would be wise to stay in port tonight. As I type this, I just heard several loud peals of thunder. A good night to stay dry.

Thursday 9/09

2010-09-13T21:35:00.004-04:00

The season is winding down, but with the 6PM start time we gain a little more daylight for a while.

A breezy night, with winds approaching 20 knots out of the NW. The offshore wind kept the waves from building, making it a fast night. We used the #2 genny and full main.

"Spirit" is framed by a sunset sky.

Chad is back on the boat, helping with the genny trim. He showed up with flip-flops, but because it was so windy I insisted he wear my old sneakers. After about 10 minutes he got too grossed out to continue (they were really old sneakers) so he borrowed my water shoes, which were incrementally less grotesque.

The crew hiked out on the windward leg. We heeled more tonight than any time this season. The cabin looked like it had been hit by a tornado; everything that wasn't nailed down took flight.

Just the usual spectacular sunset. I'm gonna miss these when the season ends.

Thursday 9/02

2010-09-08T09:31:00.003-04:00

Last 6:30 start of the season. Starting next Thursday, 6:00PM starts!

Not many photos tonight. Crew was Janel, Derek, Lee, Chad, and Joyce. Derek and Chad on the winches, Lee on mainsail trim.

Joyce as the late summer sun sets early.

A quick race around the buoys and done.

Thursday 8/26 Party night!

2010-08-27T06:38:00.003-04:00

Time for the annual Port Milford Last Supper Party! We had a short race in the 15kt. winds, which made for an early night to get back in time to have fun at the party!

We rounded the mark and led these boats to windward.

Lee, after trimming the genny.

During a run toward the leeward mark. The race started at T, then went ENWTN, with an exciting upwind finish where we were just edged out by Audacious and slightly leading Paikea; all three boats crossed within a couple seconds!

Taking down the headsail in order to head in to the party. What a sunset!

Of course!

C-Dock band rocked the party, with a huge old spinnaker used as a striking backdrop.

John rocked the place tonight!

BK3 singing.

Another award winning photo by me.

The Gals, as the 2nd set winds down. L-R: Joyce, NDoreen (I always get that wrong), Celeste, and Janel.

Vacation Week

2010-08-23T18:10:00.005-04:00

Our August vacation on the boat. Here's the highlights:

Joyce relaxing in Port Jefferson. We originally planned to head east to Mattituck on our first day, but the wind was howling out of the east that day. So rather than slog 6 or 7 hours through four-foot chop, we reached wickedly to PJ and stayed there for two days until the wind swung out of the south.

Once safely in Mattituck, we took the LIRR to Greenport with our bikes, with the intent of riding back and stopping at a few wineries along the way. It costs $2.50 one-way, which is a good deal.

Our bikes, on the double-decker LIRR trains on the Ronkonkama Line. We can't have these kinds of trains in Connecticut because of the many overpasses we have. On the North Fork, they designed their few overpasses to allow these taller trains to get through unsmashed.

Joyce enjoys one of many fine wines we tasted on our increasingly wobbly bike ride back. My tire went flat while here, but we got the maintenance people to pump it up at their on-site shop. We bought extra wine for that.

Another winery designed after an Italian villa. They have weddings there every week during the summer.

The next day (after we slept off all the vino) we kayaked down Mattituck Inlet to The Old Mill restaurant on the water. We gracefully climbed out of our kayaks onto their floating dock, and I didn't even notice I'd torn open my knee on a nail until the waitress asked, "Do you know you're bleeding?" There's nothing like losing a pint or so to build up a healthy appetite!

A very still post-sunset moment from the anchorage at Mattituck.

These I could have done without. Every morning the teeming bird colony decided to roost on our masthead for an hour or two, giving me plenty of cabin-top scrubbing work. The little bastards.

Me, kayaking outside the inlet, on a nice beach on the Sound. We swam the only time that week in the balmy 76 degree water. I can't remember a time when the Sound was warmer.

As we approached Milford, we spotted the schooner taking people out for a sunset sail the night before the Oyster Fest.

During our return sail, the wind freshened up nicely giving us a great sail home, and I enjoyed my final Cohiba from Habana, which was a gift from one of my crew (who knows who she is, but probably shouldn't be named publicly because she visited a rogue commie nation, probably illegally).

It was a fun and relaxing vacation; and Joyce is so great that she agreed to cut her vacation short by a day so I could accept a job doing production sound for a low-budget TV pilot for no money that weekend. Joyce is one awesome gal!

Thursday 8/12

2010-08-23T18:06:00.001-04:00

We raced, but it was a bit windy and I didn't take any pictures. But we had fun anyway. Tomorrow we leave on vacation (8/13).

Thursday 8/05

2010-08-11T08:37:00.004-04:00

Another perfect night for a race.

Two new guests joined us this week; Ed and Janel's friend Jackie.

Joyce and Derek while we're on a leeward leg.

Rounding "W" (Welch's Point buoy).

Janel chillin' out on a quiet final leg.

Jackie looks like she's having fun, doesn't she? I think she always looks like that, though.

And here's another sunset. Look for the "Full Tilt Sunset Calendar", which will be available at the Full Tilt Store in time for the holidays!

(not really, but it's a good idea)

Thursday 7/29

2010-07-31T09:26:00.004-04:00

Another great Thursday. Light winds, but enough to keep moving (barely, at times).

Spirit was race committee, and they did a great job, although they started the sequence about 5 minutes early. Maybe they were just trying to give us more time to race on this light wind night!

Caliente breezes back to "N" as the winds get light.

Chad joined us for the first time in a couple years. It's great to have him back aboard the boat!

This is the kind of view I like to see from the stern!

Post race, the setting sun ignites Audacious's head sail!

Another sunset shot.

Another long time crew member made an appearance tonight. Lori was a welcome addition to our crew.

Derek steers the boat. He did a great job grinding tonight.

And of course, you knew I had to include one:

Thursday 7/22

2010-07-25T21:21:00.004-04:00

A lovely night, with an 8-10 knot breeze offshore, meaning we got to sail on flat water, which is always nice.

Tracy (in blue) joined us tonight. Tracy was a classmate in the CT Film Industry Training Program that I attended last month. You can read about it on my filmmaking blog, futuredv.com.

Kari and Pale Rider going upwind to "N". The wind started getting light, although we kept moving well even after they shortened the course.

Joyce steered later in the race, and Janel and Derek shared grinding duties with me.

Okay, this is starting to get out of hand. No more self portraits, I promise!

But I'll always have sunset photos. Eventually I'll have to do something about those dust spots on the CCD. I'll either send it out for cleaning, or get a new camera. Because the dust isn't on the lens, it's actually somewhere inside the camera.

Oh, and we were motoring back around sunset, and we were just outside the breakwater when the yacht club cannon went off, causing Joyce to jolt nearly off her feet. It never gets old.

Port Jefferson Race & Rendezvous

2010-07-20T08:24:00.003-04:00

We had perfect weather again for the 2010 PJ R&R last weekend. Joyce, Janel and I were Race Committee as usual, and the cross-Sound race started promptly at 11AM on Saturday.

Evergreen was an early boat in the staggered-start race, where each boat was given a start time base on their handicap rating. So some boats started right around 11:05, while the fastest boat started at 11:45 for the 11-mile race.

Fleet Captain Larry Welch pilots his boat around the start line.

Defiant hits the start line under full sail.

Jeff, Kyle and friend aboard Schock Therapy sail by just before the start.

Oz makes it's debut at the 2010 PJ R&R. It's good to see that boat on the water!

After our crossing, we rafted up with friends Tim & Lori's new boat, the Albin 31 "Ebb Tide".

The beach party looks suspiciously like a rave with all the glow sticks and dancing! Great time once again this year, and thanks are due to the Windjammers Sailing Club officers and volunteers for putting on such a great race and party!

Thursday 7/15

2010-07-16T12:37:00.005-04:00

It's been three weeks, but we're back racing on a Thursday night!

We were shorthanded tonight, so it was just Derek, Joyce & myself. Because of the light breeze (it never got above 6 or 7 knots) we didn't have to work all that hard.

The A fleet starts in light conditions. The RC did go a little early on a horn, blasting the one minute prep for our class at the 2 minute mark. This caused me to stop racing for a bit, but then the horn sounded at one minute, so I started again. We didn't have a bad start, but some boats got really tangled up from the confusion.

Then again, I'm glad they didn't start the sequence all over again, as we just wanted to get started and try to cool off in the light breeze.

We got a salute from Spirit right before the start.

We ghosted by Audacious during a run, but it was give and take with them most of the race.

It got so light that we could hear people speaking conversationally on boats over 100 feet away! On the last leg the wind totally died, and we (along with about a half dozen boats still racing) quit and headed back to the dock.

And now for the obligatory photos:

This is the obligatory self-portrait of the skipper. You know you'd miss if if I didn't post it!

This is the obligatory awesome sunset photo. We were about a mile out on the gulf when we heard the yacht club cannon go off.

Vacation photos

2010-07-11T08:33:00.006-04:00

We're back from our week on the boat. The heatwave that roasted New England didn't spare us, but fortunately we had a lot of options to keep cool. Like swimming, kayaking, and visiting air-conditioned bars!

Here's some photos for ya's:

Lori, Joyce, and Teri aboard "Ebb Tide", Tim & Lori's new Albin 31. Yes, I jumped off the roof. Twice.

Me & Joyce on the top of the sand bluffs overlooking Long Island Sound.

Lori & Tim on the same bluffs, overlooking Port Jefferson.

Pete & Teri with the Port Jeff ferry in the background.

A view of the tropical-like Pirate's Cove. The water temperature in the harbor was warmer than I ever remembered it, but it was refreshing all the same.

One of the many amazing sunsets we witnessed from our boat. That night we watched satellites and shooting stars. Did I ever mention that owning a sailboat is the absolute BEST fucking thing in the world?

Joyce is wearing my hat at the Independence Day parade in PJ. If you look closely, you'll see my reflection in the window, with a tractor that's perilously close to running me over. Good thing I wasn't paying attention!

Did you ever try to eat lunch while somebody is staring at you?

Ah, I see what he's looking at!

Blue drinks! Everyone wants a sip of a refreshing cold beverage on the hottest day of the year!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, Guinness!

Horses swimming back near our mooring in the harbor. Some of them weren't overly enthusiastic about going in, despite the hot weather.

Back in PJ with Joyce's sister Jill and hubby Brad, at the Pindar winery store.

A nice stained glass window at a Northport eatery.

We came home a day early to avoid the direly predicted thunderstorms that somehow never materialized. Oh well, it was good to get home and enjoy the modern comforts once again.

Vacation: First Look

2010-07-10T13:19:00.000-04:00

Two of my sisters-in-law and family. More soon.

Thursday 6/24

2010-06-25T07:16:00.005-04:00

It was just like last week, with a gusty breeze ranging into the upper 20s, making it another wet and wild night!

A torrential thunderstorm blew through town a couple hours earlier, leaving downed trees and power lines in its wake. Fortunately, the wind didn't die after the squall, so we still had a stiff offshore breeze to work with.

We're surfing down toward Pond Point in this photo. Using last week's combination of a full main and the #2 genny, Lee did a great job trimming the sails and the boat performed great, keeping pace with boats that usually leave us well back.

We were joined this week by one of Lee's work mates, Christa. She picked a good night to get her feet wet on a racing boat!

Remember me?

We missed the yacht club cannon by about a minute or so. Joyce would have jumped right out of her skin if it went off just as she steered through the breakwaters. But our timing was off and we were well past the yacht club when it popped. Oh well, you can't always pitch a perfect game, right?

American Girl finishes Bermuda Race

2010-06-23T21:36:00.002-04:00

Hello Friends of American Girl!

Well, last night wasn't the best sailing we've had, but with dawn the wind came up a little, and at least now we're moving. We made very little way from midnight until the sun came up. We're approaching our Gulf Stream entry point, about a half day later than we expected. Spirits are good, and we're looking forward to a freshening breeze and favorable current as the day goes on.

The evening update should come from in the Gulf Stream.

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there!

Michael Brown
Navigator
For the Captain and Crew
----------------------------
Captains message

First of all, I want to thank all of you who have sent loved ones to help out. I understand that our gain has been your temporary loss. But we are sailors and the sea has a powerful calling.We are who we are.
This has been an incredible adventure with lots of stories to tell by some remarkable men. All have given their best and crew chemistry could not have been better. I am so proud of this crew and her boat. We have sailed at a very high level of performance and got through a lot of real challenges. Very few people understand what 30 knot winds, 8-10 foot confused seas, and a dark night are like in a small boat. We had few issues and both boat and crew held up well. I can't share all the details of the kind of humor that gets us through such times as this is a family channel- but crew spirit was never in question.
Currently we are about 30 miles from Bermuda closing in with some very well sailed boats. Our tracking data tells us that most of the boats in our class took a very different approach than we did and will likely beat us to the finish. That is ocean racing and this chess match was not ours to win. We are however sailing in near perfect conditions with 10 knots of breeze blue sky and veryblue water. It is a beautiful sight with lots of boats and sailors all converging. I am also quite sure my crew has the best jokes.
We expect to finish in daylight and grab showers, food, and rest. Some of you will be arriving soon to see the spectacle around Hamilton harbor stacked with racers and their machines. It is a sight that is very special. Bring your cameras.
Our only injuries have been bruises mostly mine and a little too much sun. We will live to sail another day.
All the best to the many friends of American Girl.
Ubi victoria ibi concordia
The skipper.
---------------------------
Less than 80 miles to go. We are looking at a daylight finish if the winds hold. It was a god night of sailing with some good speeds turned in. As of now we are flying the "code zero" A head sail that is not quite spinnaker but not quite jib, it is giving us a good boat speed for what should be our last leg of the race.
We can see a couple of boats around us now. Hopefully we are doing well, we will know for sure tonight.

Finishing soon makes us happy not just for a job well done but to be rid of the stink that has become our boat cabin as well. The combination of a racing boat with little ventilation and 8 men who are working hard to keep the boat fast tends to make things stink. Add to this a very high humidity, bodies being soaked in sea water with no chance to dry off, wet shoes and socks, Oh god...the shoes...... And we have a very unique petri dish of smelly bacteria that could infect a continent. There will be some serious cleaning done at the dock.

As for now we are sailing along with smiles on our faces and having fun. We would convince Dan that the course is actually "once around" that is, go around Bermuda and finish back in Newport but we are not sure we could take 4 more days of this smell.

"Cowboy" Kell Morris
Watch Captain
For Captain and crew of " American Girl"
-----------------------------
NOTE: American Girl finished 10th out of 13 boats, but keep in mind that this was a much closer race than their position indicated. A lot of what helped the winning boats was being in the right place when the winds picked up. Congrats to our friend Miles and the crew of American Girl for a great race, and a wonderful play-by-play via satellite phone.

"American Girl" in the Bermuda Race

2010-06-19T20:57:00.003-04:00

Former Full Tilt crew Miles Abrams is sailing in the Bermuda Race which began yesterday. I'm getting emails from the skipper about the yacht's progress, and I'll repost them here. Looks like Miles had an exciting first day!
-----------------
Ahoy Friends of American Girl!

We've had a nearly perfect first seven hours or so, and have settled into our offshore routines. The Port Watch is on duty now, and Starboard is enjoying some well-earned rest after six hours of all hands. Nothing has disappointed so far: the adrenaline rush of a 13-boat class start, perfect afternoon breezes under clear, sunny skies, one of the best boat dinners I've ever had, and a truly spectacular sunset.

Now the hard work begins. As the breezes get lighter and the night gets chilly, bodies get tired, but we all have to stay focused: distance races are won or lost at night.

Thank you all for the support and well-wishes!

-Michael
For the Captain and Crew
-------------------
Miles is fine and should be commended for his bravery.

At approx. 0400 June 19 in very light winds we ran afoul of a long line fishing system. These are very long (up to a mile) lines strung between floating buoys. These buoys are not lighted and without a moon it is very dark out here and you cannot see them till you are Right on top of them. Soooo.... we caught our keel on one. After a few minutes of evaluating the system it was decided that it would take a swimmer to untangle us. Miles quickly volunteered, stripped down naked and jumped into the 60 degree water. A few minutes later we were free of the lines and sailing along. With Miles of course.
Thankful for light winds at the time of the incident we lost little time compared to what could have been a race losing scenario.
We will have to continue to sail well to make up for lost time but we are confident that we can do just that.

"Cowboy" Kell Morris
Watch Captain
for Captain and crew of American Girl
------------------------
Good evening from your ship at sea.....
25 hours into the race and we have already had quite an adventure. We are currently trying to stay in a favorable eddy, which is a part of the gulf stream but not the actuall gulf stream itself. Its quite a challenge consisting of tacking back and forth against the wind and taking sea water temperatures till we find the "sweet spot". We hope to enter the main body of the gulf stream early tomorrow morning for a nice favorable current ride toward Bermuda.

More when we can....

"Cowboy" Kell Morris
watch captain
for captain and crew of American Girl
---------------------------
Friends of American Girl,

There's an adage in the military that "no plan survives contact with the enemy." I was thinking about that at the Nav station today, not coincidentally because we have three military veterans aboard. The principle applies to distance racing as well (though we would never think of the sea and the weather as "enemies"!) Let's just say the forecasts we based our strategies on bear only a passing resemblence to the actual conditions we are seeing now. So we adjust.

We are working our way around a large warm ring or eddy, a 90-mile wide mass of swirling water being thrown off the north wall of the Gulf stream. Seas are rougher here, and we're contending with currents that are tricky to figure out and wind that's coming from a right angle to where it's supposed to be. At intervals, we have to drop a thermometer overboard on a string to see how warm the water is. For all the high-tech instruments we're carrying, this low-tech solution has been the best way to be sure where we are in the eddy.

We're in the middle of the "dog watch," a pair of 2-hour watches (instead of 4 hours) that makes serving dinner easier and keeps each watch from having to stand the same hours each night. Variety of any kind is important on a long race.

Dinner smells excellent again, so I'll sign off for today and grab some chow.

Thanks again for supporting us!

Michael Brown
Navigator
For the Captain and Crew

Thursday 6/17

2010-06-17T21:51:00.003-04:00

Wild one tonight! The breeze was often in the 20s, and our wind meter hit 30 a few times during the race, so it was a bit of an exciting night!

Guest Mainsheet Trimmer Teri from "Wild Eyes" joined us tonight, and boy, did she pick a fun night to race with us!

During the leeward leg, Derek is living in Lazy Town, acting as a human gybe preventer. The joke is on him, though, 'cause if we accidentally gybed, he definitely would have ended up in the drink!

Lee and Janel holding the boat together on another downwind leg. The breeze was blowing out of the north, meaning we have very flat water but wicked wind! That's the kind of sailing I love, although we usually get it in early May when the water temp is bone-freezingly cold, so it's not as much fun as when the wind pipes up in warmer June or hotter July. Good time tonight!

Thursday 6/10

2010-06-10T21:24:00.004-04:00

It poured just a half-hour before we got there, so even though we got a little sun here and there, the boat was wet for quite a while.

Dramatic storm clouds recede over Long Island after soaking us with rain earlier.

Of course the wind died after the rain ceased. It always happens!

After the race was called for no wind, we got this picture of steam rising off the power plant in Devon and combining to form clouds.

Joyce and Janel. Tonight was supposed to be WAH, but it got postponed until next week.

Another cool shot of the sun beaming through the overcast skies.

Thursday 6/03

2010-06-06T07:30:00.004-04:00

Almost no wind made this a slow race. 5 knots or less for pretty much the whole evening.

You know it's a slow race when I have time to compose and carefully focus the photo.

You know it's a slow race when I have a frosty cold beverage available to me at all times.

You know it's a slow race when everyone is on the leeward side trying to get the sails to catch some air.

You know it's a slow race when everyone has time to contemplate the weather 20 miles away.

You know it was a slow race when the sun sets and you've only gone to D and back to S in two hours.

But then again, even a slow race is better than NO race!

Full Tilt alumni in the Bermuda Race

2010-06-02T16:52:00.006-04:00

Miles Abrams (the happy fellow on the left) who crewed on Full Tilt for a couple years has moved on to bigger and better things, but he'll always be considered "one of the gang". Here's an email I received from him:

On June 18, I'll join 7 other silly boys, along with two thousand or so additional participants, in a 630 mile sailing race from Newport, Rhode Island, to Bermuda. Depending on the conditions, it will take anywhere from 3 to 5 days. Glutton for punishment that I am, I will also help sail the boat back home after the race. Call it the vacation of a lifetime, an homage to my inner Peter Pan, or just the folly of a 41 year old computer nerd, it's going to be a blast. And, having just taken a hard-earned second place in last weekend's Around Block Island race, we're feeling rather good about our prospects.

If you'd like to follow along, each boat carries a transponder and can be tracked online at: http://www.bermudarace.com/OntheRacecourse/RaceTracking/tabid/199/Default.aspx. My boat is named 'American Girl', and we're competing in the St. David's Lighthouse division. My/Our cousin Jared will also be racing, on a boat named 'Charlie V'.

During the race, we will be sending out periodic emails to interested parties as time, conditions, and satellite connectivity permits - email me back if you would like to be included in these communications.

There's also a reasonable chance that ESPN will succeed in broadcasting live from one of the other boats, 'Aurora'. If so, it will be online here: http://espn.go.com/espn3/index. No scheduling information has been published yet.

And for those among you who actually sail, www.sailinganarchy.com will have the most technical (and obscene) commentary. A search for Bermuda 2010 should get you what you need.

best,
Miles

Thursday 5/27

2010-05-29T22:56:00.002-04:00

We had another good race this week. And I had more crew, which made my life much easier.

Right after a good start, we're off in the SE breeze toward Pond Point.

The course was basically a reach all the way. We were slow to reach our speed in the ~10 kts. breeze, but when we did we started passing boats.

Lee did a phenomenal job as our trimmer, and he kept us moving all through the course, which was PEWS.

Post race, Janel, Derek and Joyce enjoy the sunset.

That's the sunset there.

First Thursday Night Race!

2010-05-26T19:12:00.002-04:00

The boat went in the morning of the 20th, and I got it fully rigged by myself in time for first warning.

The crew was just Janel and myself. We were shorthanded but not daunted, as there was enough breeze for us to fly the No. 2 jib and make each tack about a million per cent easier!

Running leeward of Spirit after a really good start.

Heeling just enough to know that there's some breeze, but no so much that we got knocked around uncomfortably with just us two racing the boat.

About a dozen boats started in a single class. Great windward/leeward course by the Race Committee, who did an outstanding job!

Boat launch video

2010-05-26T07:00:00.001-04:00

Nobody doesn't love speeded up videos, amiright?

Sailing Season Begins!

2010-05-25T19:07:00.001-04:00

The boat went in May 20th. I now declare the 2010 sailing season underway!

"Starboard!"

Spring Social photos

2010-05-08T15:31:00.003-04:00

Great party to kick off the sailing season for 2010!

Vern and Sheila are joined by Linda right before the band started playing.

Teri and Joyce mugging it up for the camera.

The "C-Dock" band, comprised of several WSC members, rocked the house!

Teri and Janel digging on the tunes. Looks like Janel is enjoying a "Dark 'n Stormy", too!

B3 and John C. are shredding the shit outta that song!

As I said, great party. Thanks to the Windjammers officers and volunteers who put it on, and to Milford Yacht Club for hosting the event!

Yes, it was a Good Friday

2010-04-02T19:13:00.002-04:00

To me, there's nothing more sanctifying than that unseasonably warm early spring day when you decide to uncover your boat for the season!

C-Dock rocks out Two Boots

2010-03-18T14:22:00.004-04:00

C-Dock played at Two Boots in Bridgeport on St. Pat's Day, and I shot video of their entire two sets. Here's "Bittersweet Symphony" for your viewing and listening pleasure:

Wouldn't want to be out there today

2010-03-13T17:03:00.004-05:00

Major late winter storm is hitting New England today. Winds approaching 50 mph, waves are over 9 feet on the Sound, and the rain is bucketing down.

Eight more weeks and the boat will be in the water. In the meantime, here's something to make you appreciate being warm and dry!

Winter sailing

2010-03-07T07:54:00.004-05:00

The winter sailing season is growing short as the temps are reaching 50 and we're into March. Before we know it we'll be uncovering our sailboats and getting started on spring commissioning. I'm hoping to get the boat launched early May this season.

Meanwhile, here's a photo of some frostbiters enjoying yesterday's mild weather in the Gulf while a fishing boat motors back to the harbor:

Mid-Winter Bash at Two Boots

2010-01-28T09:32:00.004-05:00

Last night we had a very special event at Two Boots Pizza in Bridgeport: it was Elisabeth's going-away party, our friends' C-Dock Band were playing, and it was my birthday! Here's some photos of the hi-jinks:

January weather

2010-01-25T13:57:00.002-05:00

You never know exactly what kind of weather you're gonna get in late January, but you can pretty much assume that it's gonna be interesting!

From a website that shows weather buoy data, we're getting windspeeds up over 50 mph and the temperature is a very unseasonable 51 degrees! Plus it's raining like a bastard and the wave heights are topping 8 feet. Which basically makes it a good day to be on solid ground.

The website with this data is called MySound, and is run by the University of Connecticut Dept. of Marine Sciences. The weather info for the buoy off of New Haven is Central WX.

And for fun they have a web cam set up on Ledge Light in New London.

At least it's not snowing!

Covered up for the winter

2009-12-20T15:06:00.003-05:00

It's the year end wrap up, and just five days until Christmas. We got nearly a foot of snow today, and this is me about to sweep the snow off the boat cover.

Another great year is done, and we'll be back in 2010 for another fun season of racing and cruising. In the meantime, have a safe and fun holiday season!

Full Tilt Team Dinner

2009-12-05T17:10:00.006-05:00

This year we decided to gather crew and friends of Full Tilt at a local restaurant for fun-filled dinner. We started out in the lounge and soon migrated to a private dining room. As the drinks flowed, the quality of the stories improved.

Although, I was a little worried that the story of the "Robbins shark" may have given everyone indigestion!

Mike Kivell with Janel in the private dining room at Al Dente in Devon known as "The Godfather Room" because of all the framed pictures from Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro movies. Brita was also here, but she blinked in both photos we took of her.

Lee and me. The Italian food at this place is excellent. I had the scallops and shrimp scampi over linguini. Mmmm mmmm good!

John & Celeste also joined us and shared a few sailing stories.

Miles and his wife Sarah with Joyce. Sarah promised to join us for a few races next season when her work allows for it.

It was fun evening for all!

---------------------------------------------

And I gave framed photographs from the sailing season to our crew and friends:

I gave this photo of Witchcraft taken when Joyce & me were starting a night crossing to PJ to John & Celeste.

Miles received this photo of him and Liz taken after an early September sunset.

Mike crewed with us once, and got this photo of him relaxing while Joyce helmed the boat.

Lee also relaxing was captured in this photo. Boy, we have a very relaxed boat!

Janel got a photo of her, Liz and Joyce celebrating our win in the Wellness Cup (the origin of the wine is a whole 'nother story! You had to be at the dinner to hear that one!)

TWC wrap up

2009-11-17T17:26:00.002-05:00

Well, the boat's covered up for the winter, and now we're heading into the holidays.

The Wellness Cup raised over $24,000 this year thanks to the competing yachts, sponsors, contributors, and all the people who volunteered their efforts to making this a great event.

The Ocean Kayak prize was won by A. M. Allen of Branford, the lucky duck!

We'll have more info sometime soon, but I wanted to make sure everyone who contributed knows how successful this event was!

The Wellness Cup 2009

2009-10-06T10:08:00.010-04:00

The Wellness Cup was another fun race this year. The weather was slightly better than last year because the rain stopped right before the start. Even though we wore our foulies for most of the race, it was dry and reasonably warm out there. The breeze averaged around 8-10 most of our race, but got weak and variable right after we finished.

Transporting the boat to Branford the day before, it was much cooler. Joyce warmed up with a swig of Capt. Morgan "Tattoo".

During the pre-start I was able to snap a quick photo of "Sagacious".

Joyce steering with Janel watching.

Joyce did most of the genny trimming, and she did a great job during the variable conditions.

Me, steering and self-portraiting.

Elisabeth, Janel and Joyce enjoying their ride on the starboard rail as we approached the finish.

Post-finish we broke out a bottle of wine and toasted a successful race.

Yes, I toasted as well.

Sunday at the awards ceremony, we got a trophy and a nice bottle of wine.

Final results are posted on The Wellness Cup website.

Havest Moon Race & Raftup

2009-10-01T12:39:00.006-04:00

Last Thursday we were race committee for the annual final scheduled weeknight race of the season and raftup party.

Joyce working the prep flag for the start. Derek flew the class flag, and Janel worked the horn. I timed the start and barked orders.

We sent the roughly 20 boats in a single start to NEWNS, with the wind coming from the north.

Janel, Derek and Joyce enjoy the after sunset glow as the racers finish.

This is what I look like after doing a shot of last year's victory rum from The Wellness Cup. We finished the bottle that night, so we'll just have to win another this Saturday.

Celeste & John aboard Witchcraft with Gary from Shameles. It was a small raftup this year; I guess we didn't get the word out. But we really enjoyed Celeste's awesome blue drinks!

Derek helmed the boat all the way in after dark. It was a great way to end the Thursday race series, and we have the Wellness Cup scheduled for Oct. 3rd.

Dawn at Charles Island

2009-10-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

We anchored overnight at Charles Island last week, and I woke up early enough to catch this phenomenal sunrise photo.

Thursday 9/17

2009-09-18T09:41:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-09-15T12:09:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-12T22:55:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-12T22:34:00.004-04:00

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

2009-09-04T11:45:00.007-04:00

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

2009-09-03T22:29:00.004-04:00

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!

North Fork vacation

2009-09-01T21:26:00.002-04:00

Video from our trip to Mattituck last week!

Thursday 8/20 - Port Milford Party!

2009-08-21T21:06:00.002-04:00

PLEASE NOTE: Video goodness included below!

The annual Port Milford Last Supper Cookout was held tonight, and as usual, there was a great turnout for the party!

We had very light conditions around the start, but managed to complete a DWS course, making it a race.

"Audacious" was race committee tonight, and we started right on time.

"Schock Therapy" is getting ready for the pre-start.

I decided to shoot video for a change, so I attached my camera to the stern rail and hit "record" before the start. I took about 20 minutes of footage and condensed it into this short video, titled "Slow Ride":

PT 728 and the Schooner "Liberty"

2009-08-17T23:01:00.002-04:00

At the Oyster Festival in Milford last weekend, WWII vintage PT 728 appeared and took people out for rides. Plus, the schooner "Liberty" was there.

And, I shot some digital camera video, and made this little movie:

Woman at the Helm III

2009-08-13T22:22:00.009-04:00

Final race of the series. We're effectively out of the running, but it's still summer and the weather is nice, so we're out here!

Janel and Elisabeth were deck crew tonight for the third "Woman at the Helm" race.

The very light winds during our runs led to us viewing the ass-end of the fleet for most of the night.

Miles works mainsail trim while Joyce wo-mans the helm!

Paprika and Schock Therapy battled each other all evening.

Me, looking relaxed as we approach the finish. There was a minimal amount of barking heard during tonight's race.

Janel at the helm while Joyce enjoys a beer after a fun race.

Miles and Elisabeth chillin' on the deck as we enjoy the evening.

Overnight cruise to PJ

2009-08-09T16:40:00.014-04:00

We decided to do a night crossing to Port Jeff on Friday, returning on Saturday because Joyce had to work Sunday.

Joyce steering us out of the harbor just before sunset.

Sunset behind a big trawler anchored in the Gulf.

"Witchcraft" out for a twilight sail just south of Charles Island.

Deep into twilight. Soon a blood red, nearly full moon will rise. The NW wind ensured a crisp crossing, where we averaged between 5 and 7 kts. We got in around 11PM.

Saturday at our mooring. The weather was perfect and everyone enjoyed the day.

Especially Joyce, seen here with a book and a beer. Sometimes the necessities of life can be narrowed down to just the things that make you happiest at that moment.

Early Saturday evening, leaving PJ harbor we encountered this really cool schooner.

Is going this fast absolutely necessary when you pass between two nearby boats?

Joyoce didn't finish her book on the float, so while the autohelm steers us home, she takes the opportunity to read.

Me, listening to music. The wind was very light so we decided to motor back home.

Like I said, is it absolutely necessary to go this fast when you're that close?

Charles Island, with a sun murkily shining through a light cloud cover.

The big trawler is still there, and apparently entertaining some friends.

Thursday 8/06

2009-08-09T04:16:00.002-04:00

Another great evening, with enough breeze to get the entire race completed. Paikea was RC, and our course was DPNE, which was basically a big circle. We were on track for an awesome start, but we were just over the line early, so we had to come back and restart, causing us to play catch-up with the fleet for the entire race. We did pass a few boats and had a generally good performance.

The under 30' class starting. We had a total of 34 boats out tonight!

Bruce, Derek, Joyce & Janel chilling before the pre-start.

Miles (center) crewed for us tonight, and he did a great job grinding and working mainsail trim.

Janel gets a little helm time in after the race. The breeze stayed up for the entire evening.

The sunset photo from this week. And another one follows.

Help us raise money for a great cause!

2009-08-04T14:57:00.003-04:00

The Wellness Cup Regatta is a race sponsored by The Wellness Community, an organization tasked with provided support, education and hope to people with cancer and their loved ones.

We're helping raise money for this worthy cause in advance of the October 3rd race date, and to that end we're accepting donations of money and auction prizes, along with selling raffle tickets for an awesome $ 1,000 kayak package, offered by West Marine in Branford! Only 1,000 tickets will be sold, so your odds of winning are pretty durned good, especially if you spring for a few of the tickets! To see details of the kayak package, click on this PDF file of the fundraiser brochure (page 3 shows the kayak).

My team page is located HERE, so visit and click on the donate button to make a simple monetary contribution; and if you have items you'd like to donate, or wish to purchase tickets for the kayak raffle, email me at futuredv at yahoo dot com.

Thanks!

Thursday 7/30

2009-08-02T08:26:00.004-04:00

We had a perfect evening for the race! 8-10 kts NW-SW, not a cloud in the sky, and Schock Therapy set a fast course allowing everyone to finish before sunset.

Although, I didn't know the mark "T" Jeff set; I thought that meant Townsend Ledge, which is a fine mark for a Saturday race, but the 16 mile round-trip would have been a bit much for a Thursday night! Turns out the "T" he selected was the closest MYC "barber pole", just south of the line between W and D. It was a good mark, but since it's not in the Windjammers sailing directions, it was a bit confusing.

This is another good reason to monitor channel 72 before all our races. I hope we can finally adopt this common sense rule and make it part of our procedures.

Joyce, Liz and Derek on a reach. We also had Lee and Bruce aboard; Janel had to work late and missed the race.

Lee right before the starting sequence.

Secret powers along in the light breeze.

Yes, it's another sunset photo. Sunsets are like snowflakes; no two are the same. But sunsets are warmer. And you never seem to get a blizzard of sunsets at one time, you only get a single sunset each day. And you don't have to shovel a bunch of sunsets off your driveway....

...OK, so they're not much like snowflakes after all.

Post-race, Liz took over the helm for some light air sailing.

Liz with Kari in the background.

PJ RandR

2009-07-27T08:57:00.008-04:00

The annual Port Jefferson Race & Rendezvous was a success as usual, thanks to the tireless work of all the volunteers. Here's a few pictures from the crew of Full Tilt, where we were Race Committee as usual.

Joyce and I had Janel as crew again this year, and we all brought our kayaks with us. I was happy to see that all three fit on the deck and didn't interfere much with our #1 genny, which we easily tacked several times on the way over.

I like that there's no chance of a wind hold on this race, so I started the race exactly on the hour per GPS time, regardless of the lack of wind. It did make for a tough start for many boats, as the current was moving west at about 3/4 of a knot and tended to drag them down the line towards the bell buoy, which was the pin again this year.

By around 2PM the wind finally started coming up, and Secret charged through the fleet to an eventual first place victory.

Janel scopes out the finish at Mt. Misery Shoal as we approach PJ.

This is a closeup of that really cool tri that was in the background of the previous photo.

Defiant and another boat have a bang-bang finish at the buoy. We were about 1/2 mile away, so the photo is a bit blurry.

Busy weekend at PJ, as this typical raft-up indicates.

Fun with glowsticks. Yes, this group is fully engulfed in a life-long state of goofiness.

Nobody liked the flash on my camera, so they all looked away. I decided to put the camera away at that point.

Gary and Carol from Shamles making way home the next day. We left around 11AM under the forecast threat of thunderstorms, which didn't materialize until evening. And the wind was light, so we motored in the heat most of the way.

After stopping mid-Sound for a very refreshing and much-needed swim, we found this balloon floating along. Have a nice day!

Thursday 7/23 - rainout!

2009-07-23T18:09:00.002-04:00

The weather is what meteorologists commonly refer to as "shitty", so we decided to give it a pass tonight.

Especially because, 1) the weather is destined to get worse tonight before it gets better; 2) there won't be more than a handful of boats racing even if they DO decide to head out; 3) we've sailed enough in the rain already, and finally; 4) we're doing the Port Jeff Race & Rendezvous this Saturday, so it's not like we won't get in some nice sailing in about a day and a half.

And as for the weather forecast...it's likely to be "non-shitty" by then!

Thursday 7/16

2009-07-17T10:04:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was the first day of summer.

Well, technically speaking, summer started nearly a month ago. But yesterday was the first day that actually felt like summer. Temps in the mid-80s, threat of thunderstorms, high humidity, etc.

...and, of course, a diminishing breeze.

Joyce, Janel, Liz and Lee before the pre-start. We had about 5 or 6 knots of breeze at that point.

After rounding the first mark the wind got fluky, and pretty much died altogether before sunset.

As we headed in, lightning played within this approaching thunderstorm. Around 11PM we started getting a pretty good storm here in Milford.

And because they were so good last night despite the frustrating conditions, I'm going to treat the crew to ice cream at Baskin-Robbins!

Woman at the Helm II

2009-07-12T09:21:00.000-04:00

WAH II last Thursday, July 9th. Beautiful night to be on the water!

Pre-start, with Janel, Derek, Liz, and (foreground) Liz's dad Gib, who's visiting from Minnesota and was a welcome addition to the crew.

Kari, flying their Polish Burgee! (hint: the fender!)

Pre-start, the boats slowly get ready for the race.

(L-R) Liz, Gib, Janel, and Derek's hands.

Lee checks the sail trim or looks for UFOs, I'm not sure; while Joyce concentrates.

My obligatory self-portrait. How ya likin' the goatee? (don't answer)

The obligatory sunset photo. We sailed around for about 45 minutes after the race, enjoying a few ice-cold beverages while the temperature plummeted during twilight.

Vacation Photos

2009-07-09T11:56:00.007-04:00

We spent the entire week at our mooring in PJ, and we were joined by our friends Pete & Teri from "Wild Eyes" for the last three days.

I was worried that transporting our 9.5 and 10 foot kayaks would be difficult, but they fit nicely on the foredeck and barely interfered with our #1 genny. We tacked several times and had no problem with them. Relief!

Joyce on her kayak near Windjammers Beach (where we have the annual PJ R&R).

Joyce's patriotic pinwheels were really humming in the near-constant breeze!

Cormorants sunning themselves on the wrecked wharf on the east side of the channel. The guy on the left is lightening the load right before taking wing!

A typical PJ sunset. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy the sunsets here?

Joyce finds a wrecked channel marker near Pirate's Cove. It's a bit too big for us to hang on our garden fence. I'm sure at some point someone will reclaim the thing.

I don't know why I do this. I guess because Joyce hates to operate the camera, so if I want any photos of me, someone has to take them!

Wild Eyes rafted up to us on the mooring. It looks twice as wide as Full Tilt, but I think the angle makes it look so much beamier when it's only 2 feet wider. Plus, they have a very spacious stern.

P & T on the beach at PJ.

P & T watching the big July 4th parade in Port Jeff. We spent about half a day in town, for the parade and lunch. The parade is great, with just about every single piece of fire apparatus on Long Island making an appearance. God help them if a fire breaks out somewhere!

I took the previous photo from across the street in front of the cigar store. I fired up a good 90-minute stogie, and found that I cleared about 20 feet of sidewalk while smoking it. Helpful tip for those that wish to repel families, especially those with kids!

The colors that they come up with for the evening twilight is way better than any fireworks I've ever seen.

Wild Eyes chuting home, with their big sail and a great breeze!

Branford Fireworks cruise

2009-07-06T08:52:00.004-04:00

A week ago Saturday we made our annual pilgrimage to Branford for the annual fireworks extravaganza. Again we rafted up to our good friends Pete and Teri's boat Wild Eyes at the mooring stakes across from the Branford Yacht Club.

The clouds threatened rain but stayed well east of us, allowing for perfect viewing of the fireworks. Joyce is wearing her souvenir pink Buffalo Bills hat that I bought her when I was in Buffalo the week before for work.

Because, you know, she's a Patriots fan.

Joyce with Jackie and Janel. Jackie was with us the first time we went kayaking earlier in the month.

Pictures rarely do fireworks any justice. But it was a great display, as usual. We stayed the night and returned home on Sunday to prepare for our week on the boat. Photos of that trip coming soon.

Thursday 6/25

2009-06-26T09:10:00.003-04:00

Finally, a sunny day! But the wind pretty much was dead again. We did get a start and rounded W, but after the wind died because of shift from SE to N, we decided to quit and motor in so we could get to the party at Milford Boat Works early. Great party this year!

Bruce, Janel, and Mike Kivell (L to R) were on the boat, along with Derek (not pictured, sleeping on the foredeck).

Part of the large (28 or so boat) fleet pre-start.

Of course, what would a bunch of photos be without your humble narrator?

Joyce and Mike. Obviously the party started early tonight!

Schock Therapy and Paikea during the pre-start.

Just me & the gals...again!

2009-06-22T12:10:00.004-04:00

We did the Commodore's Cup races on Saturday, and the weather was iffy. Light breeze out of the SE and a constant threat of rain, which held off mostly until AFTER the two races. Same crew as last week.

Our fleet only consisted of us and Paikea, but it was fun anyway. The series is two races, and in the event of a tie, the winner of the second race is deemed champion. The same thing happened last year, except with a different result.

Of course, this year we won the first race and lost the second (by 54 seconds), so we took second place by default. If we had to lose to someone, we're happy it was Paikea. But it was a fun pair of races (even though I can think of plenty of areas we could have made up the time difference in the second one if I'd been concentrating more) and everyone did a great job.

Self-portrait below. I probably should have spared you folks the horror of that photo, but what fun would that be?

Woman at the Helm, Race I

2009-06-12T11:39:00.003-04:00

(L to R) Joyce, Liz, and Janel were the helm and crew with me last night, in drizzly and breezy conditions.

The course was WS3 with the wind at about 15kts out of the east, so it was kind of lumpy out there. Results are located HERE. We finished 8th out of 9 boats, but my poor tactics on the start cost us about 2 minutes and that was pretty much the difference that kept us out of the top 3 or 4.

Oh well, Joyce did a great job (as usual) and Janel made sure to tell me where she was gonna ram that whisker pole if I didn't shut up! (she just had a bit of trouble with it again, and I simply walked forward and fixed it in two seconds for the 2nd time in two races)

And I broke the LCD screen on my new Fuji camera, which cost me about $70 a month or two ago. The dummy that I am, I had left it in my pocket during the race, and I must have smashed it into a winch while we were getting bounced around out there. Bummer!

At least I got one picture (above) with it. And I just (five minutes ago) bought a used one on eBay for $38, so at least it wasn't THAT expensive of a boneheaded move! This, if you're keeping count, is camera number THREE so far this year! I'm gonna glue a square of plexiglass over the LCD on this one, because I'm obviously too clumsy to maintain a working camera for very long.

Joyce's new kayak

2009-06-06T13:50:00.003-04:00

She wanted one of these for years. So I bought her one for her birthday next month. Today she got a chance to take it out.

Janel and her friend Jackie wanted to take Joyce out the first time, and their friend Karen kindly allowed me to use another kayak she owns. So I got to try out kayaking, too.

Guess what? I'm kind of pissed off, because now I have to buy myself a kayak! It was a lot of fun and easier than I expected. I tried Joyce's kayak (a Pelican Precision 100) and found it a little "tippier" than the one I borrowed, but perfectly acceptable and easy to maneuver.

So I guess I'll see if they're on sale and pick one up for me! I knew this whole kayak business was a bad idea!

No wind, no race, no problem!

2009-06-05T10:21:00.004-04:00

Last night we got the usual August weather (except for the temperature!) at the beginning of June!

There was NO wind last night. None. Zilch. Nada.

I even opined that there was LESS than no wind; that we had in fact entered into a vacuum not unlike the total airlessness of deep space!

However, the lack of total suffocation and immediate death of all hands quickly put that rumor to rest.

That's not to say we didn't move...the current carried us from the vicinity of the committee boat Spirit toward the rocks on the south end of Charles I. at a rate of .3 to .4 kts. After nearly an hour of the drifting, the RC called it a night. We had already packed it up by then and were motoring in (photo above).

Joining us this week was Janel, Derek, Lee, Bruce from the boat in the slip next to us, and Elisabeth.

Next week is the Woman at the Helm race! We hope to have a large crew turnout in support of Joyce.

...and I really can't believe that I sound as much like a dick as Janel makes me sound when she imitates me barking at the crew!

Port Jeff weekend

2009-05-31T19:03:00.003-04:00

A salmon-colored horizon from our mooring in Port Jefferson harbor highlights a spectacular sunset. From our first trip of the season; an overnighter to PJ after a great sail over on Saturday, and a downwind coast home on Sunday. Perfect way to start the cruising season!

Thursday 5/28

2009-05-29T09:17:00.002-04:00

Wet, drizzly weather along with light winds made tonight's race a little challenging, but it was still fun.

We had Janel as crew tonight, and with the light 3-10 kt. winds most of the race, it was good to sail a little light. Only about 8 or so boats showed up in the dismal weather, but with the wind out of the ENE, the waves were a lot less lumpy than last week.

Good start, decent mark roundings, and excellent crew work made the race fun and surprisingly enjoyable; especially as the drizzle stopped and the boat began to dry out during the race. We finished fourth (I think), in diminishing winds. Fun night.

Pierce Invitational Race 5/23

2009-05-24T18:34:00.003-04:00

The First Place crew: Joyce, me, Janel (not pictured: Derek)

It was a wicked ride out there yesterday, with a 14-21 knot breeze out of the east all day. We had four boats in the non-spin class, Defiant (NY 40), Impulse (Frers 33), and Paikea (C&C 99), so we were the slowest boat. Janel and nephew Derek were crew, so we were a little short-handed for the conditions.

But we figured we'd go for broke and used the #1 genny for the entire race. We were definitely overpowered, but we also drove like maniacs in that breeze. The course was the long beat to New Haven NH Red/White channel marker, a run back to the Charles island bell, a short beat back to Pond Pt., then back to the finish just outside of the Gulf.

Defiant dropped out early with some steering problems, and they later ended up on the mud just outside the breakwater near the yacht club, where they stayed until the tide came back in and they towed them home. We rounded NH right behind Impulse and just in front of Paikea, so we knew we were in the lead (Impulse gave us 29 sec. and Paikea 32 sec.) During the long run back to Charles Is. Paikea nudged ahead of us, and rounded with Impulse about 3 minutes ahead.

Another beat to Pond Pt. where we didn't lose any time, and then a quick run to the finish. The results were us first, Impulse 2nd, and Paikea 3rd, and we ended up about four minutes ahead on corrected time. The race was about 3-1/2 hours, which was a LONG time to spend getting bashed about on the boat! Poor Derek nearly froze to death, being the front man on the rail, but such is the cost of winning.

For some reason, this year's J/30 rating for my boat increased three, from 135 to 136 spin, and 155 to 158 non-spin. I don't know why, but I'll look into it.

Thursday 5/21

2009-05-21T22:08:00.003-04:00

Our first Thursday race of the season. Wet & wild!

We were a little shorthanded for our first time raising the sails this season, and with a 10-15 kt breeze, gusting to the upper teens, we had a bit of a muck-up tonight.

Janel, Derek, and Joyce were crew, and we decided on the #2 genny to start with. After we correctly threaded it onto the forestay, we decided to change to the #1 about 1/3 of the way up the first leg. The wind was still from the SW, but it had settled down to around 12 kts. The water was a bit choppy.

So we did the change and Joyce drove while I hoisted the #1 up in front of the 2, then I crawled behind the sail along the leeward linelines to pull the 2 into the cabin. Of course, just then the wind piped up and the boat healed over enough so that my entire backside got dunked, leaving me a bit damp for the rest of the evening.

Gybing around the windward mark and setting the sails for wing-on-wing was an exercise in futility. The capper was when Janel, trying to set up the whisker pole, ripped the two pieces apart like a samurai unsheathing his sword from its scabbard.

(I'm surprised this didn't happen to us!)
We eventually got our act together, but by that time we had pretty much lost the entire fleet. We sailed the rest of the long course (DPNDS) then dropped the sails as soon as we finished and motored in to a goodly race postmortem session with beer. The race was way too strenuous for me to take pictures, so this week you'll just have to deal with my "word picture".

Saturday we have the Pierce Invitational race!

We're in!

2009-05-20T12:21:00.004-04:00

The boat was launched yesterday, and our first race is tomorrow! Woo-hooooo!!!

(...and I got my camera back, obviously!)

What I'm doing right now

2009-05-16T10:37:00.000-04:00

...and tomorrow, too. Sanding the hull to get it into racing shape. Three days until launch, then I retire the Tyvec suit and the dust mask (not shown) for the season.

(disclaimer: that's a photo from May 2006...my camera is being shipped back after warranty repair, so I won't have any new photos until sometime next week)

Windjammers Spring Social

2009-05-04T15:18:00.003-04:00

The Windjammer's Sailing Club held it's annual Spring Social at the Milford Yacht Club last Friday. It rained on and off all night, but nobody cared because we were inside.

We had a decent turnout, and there were some new(ish) faces, including our newest Windjammer, Janel, who joined this club this year!

Joining us at our table were (L to R) Mike Kivell, Lee & Maura, Janel, Joyce (of course), and Brita (who normally doesn't look like she's trashed out of her mind; it was just a poorly timed blink!)

We had hoped to have the boat in by the first Thursday race, but it's looking like it'll possibly be a few days after. We'll see how it goes getting the boat ready!

Broadwater: Dead in the water

2009-04-13T15:52:00.003-04:00

Reposted from My Left Nutmeg by CT Blogger:

After four LONG years, the Broadwater Energy proposal for a liquid natural gas plant in Long Island Sound look to be over as the US Secretary of Commerce released their long awaited ruling on the project today...and gave it a thumbs down.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has rejected Broadwater Energy's proposed liquid natural gas terminal in the Long Island Sound.

The decision backs Gov. David Paterson, who last year turned down the LNG, a joint venture of TransCanada and Shell.

The energy companies tried to drum up local support in recent weeks by visiting leaders in Connecticut and Long Island, but apparently to no avail.

The Citizens Campaign for the Environment released the following:

"In this modern day David and Goliath battle, there were thousands and thousands of David's, who fought the corporate Goliath of our times-Shell Oil, and won," stated Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, "When the public speaks with one voice, its more powerful than corporate millions."

The Anti Broadwater Campaign (ABC) began in early 2005, with environmental, civic, community, fishing and boating organizations from New York and Connecticut. This began one of the largest, most far reaching grassroots efforts in NY and CT history. The public sent over 60,000 hand-written letters to federal, state and local leaders. 100,000 members of the public signed petitions in opposition and thousands turned out at public hearings and anti Broadwater rallies.

In April 2008, Governor Paterson announced that New York State would NOT support Broadwater and found the project inconsistent with the current uses of Long Island Sound as defined in the Coastal Zone Management Act. Broadwater Energy appealed to the federal government to overturn NY's decision. Today, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke announced that he is upholding NY's ruling.

"This victory is for state's rights. It's a victory for the protection of Long Island Sound, and most importantly, it's a victory for the public. Even if Shell Oil continues the battle in court, it will be tied up for years to come. This chapter has closed, and the public is clearly left with the critical message that we can win and our voices matter. A unified public can take on Big Business and Big Money and win. It's exhilarating to know that democracy is alive and well in America," added Esposito.

A victory for the environment!

The Harbor Seal & Me

2009-02-26T16:49:00.002-05:00

Late this morning I saw in the online edition of the paper that a harbor seal was visiting Milford, so I drove over to Silver Sands to see if he was still there.

The li'l fella is about 5 feet long and obviously healthy. He was snoozing for the first 15 minutes after I got there, but then he started lazily rolling around, chewing on shells, and then he put his nose in the water, trying to eat snails. Every so often he'd cast a glance at the big funny animals who walked around nearby on their hind legs, but mostly he ignored us.

The crowd kept back at least 20 feet or so, having been notified that the seal is a protected species and it's against the law to interact with him. Plus, he's got a mouth full of teeth that I bet would easily snap your fingers off.

Here's the video of the seal:

Still under cover

2009-02-06T10:16:00.007-05:00

Here is a little video of the harbor that I made today.

We're ending the first week of February, and the boat is still safely covered. The frame we built this season seems to be high enough to effectively shrug off most of the snow and water, although occasionally I do see a little pooling in spots. I simply set up the ladder and knock it off, and the tarps are holding up nicely in the wind.

The last few days has seen the cold spell we've had all year continue. This week the nighttime temperatures dipped into the single digits, and it hasn't gotten above freezing for nearly five days now. The harbor is icing up, but it's not very thick yet. This weekend it should warm up a bit, but we're still in a cold pattern.

Waiting out the Winter

2009-01-13T11:07:00.001-05:00

Good to see that the boat is safely tucked in for the Winter.

I'm already ready for Spring.

2008 in review

2009-01-02T13:21:00.003-05:00

2008 was a great year for Full Tilt. We won a few big races, and performed well in a few others. Our crew improved significantly and we're getting the boat moving better than ever!

We also cruised extensively, spending many nights on our mooring at Port Jefferson, along with anchoring in various places such as Watch Hill, Block Island, New London, Northport, Branford, and Mattituck.

I logged a total of 52 days on the water this season, including 4 races on "Wild Eyes". This wasn't a record; in 2006 and 2007 we did 64 days on the boat. But considering both mine and Joyce's work schedules were much busier, we did really good.

2009 is here, and we're already preparing for the new season. I'm going down to the yard later today to sweep the snow off the cover (to keep it from collapsing), and we're working on plans for spring outfitting and an early May launch.

In the meantime, here's a video from a couple years ago that I finally uploaded. It shows Full Tilt racing home through lumpy seas after a weekend at PJ. Even in the crappy weather, doesn't it look like fun?

Awards Dinner Wrap-up

2008-12-07T20:01:00.002-05:00

On December 5th, we had the annual Windjammers Sailing Club awards dinner. This is the final event of the 2008 season, and it gives everyone an excuse to dress up nice and drink a reasonable amount of booze.

We had one of our crew, Janel, join us; along with Pete and Teri from Wild Eyes. Here's a photo of Janel, Joyce and me:

We received a 2nd place bowl from the Pierce Invitational, and a 1st place dish from the Commodore's Cup races. Along with the trophy from the first Wellness Cup Race, we had a pretty good haul this year!

It was a good time, although Joyce had a slight headache in the morning from trying to keep up with Janel!

Crewing on Wild Eyes

2008-11-29T16:47:00.001-05:00

The final sailing video of the season (I think...there might be some footage somewhere I can upload during the long, cold winter). I crewed on Wild Eyes back on October 12th. Enjoy!

Racing with Wild Eyes 10/12

2008-10-14T09:11:00.005-04:00

Warm and sunny with a light breeze made it a perfect day for a sail. Of course, it always seems the lighter the wind, the harder everyone has to work to keep the boat moving. We barely got 6 knots most of the race, but flying the spinnaker we reached 8+ knots through the water.

Sadly, we were called over the starting line (a penalty that generated much discussion post-race) so we had to circle the committee boat and restart. It cost us about 3 minutes, and it turned out to be a critical margin in that by our calculations we finished about 2-1/2 minutes behind Smoke on corrected time.

Former Full Tilt crew J.R. working the bow on Fearless. He just passed the bar exam, congrats!

Pete helms the boat on a reach.

The wind was nearly on the beam the entire race, so we were able to fly our asymmetrical spinnaker both to the "windward" and "leeward" marks!

Wasabi airs out their spinnaker. Look how calm the water is.

Paul trims the spinnaker while Megan and Teri look on.

It was a good day for taking pictures, although I would have definitely lost my new camera if it wasn't for the wrist strap! My sailing gloves didn't allow me to get a good grip on it.

The Wellness Cup 2008

2008-09-30T08:58:00.007-04:00

We took the day off on Friday to get to Branford. Brewers Bruce & Johnson Marina donated free dockage for the weekend, which was very generous of them. The forecast was for awful weather, with 20-30 kt. easterlies predicted. Fortunately, the wind subsided to about 15 kts. by late morning, so we motored over in the afternoon. After we registered at the Branford YC, Tim picked us up and we went out to dinner at Lenny's with Tim, Lori, and two work friends from England.

The next day after a hearty breakfast we got to the boat by 9AM. We put on our foulies, since the weather was threatening. We nailed the downwind start and took off towards Pond Point and back, which was about 17 nm. Of course, it started raining immediately, but the rain brought decent winds, so we got up to 7.4 kts. in about 10-15 kts. of breeze.

We finished in under four hours and got back to the dock by 3PM. We went out to dinner that night at Darbar India, which was hot and tasty. After an exhausting day, I was asleep by 10PM.

Sunday we had a lazy morning, and we got down to the Branford Yacht Club for the 1PM party. After the awards ceremony, we motored back to Milford under partly sunny skies. Many thanks to Tim & Lori for their wonderful hospitality, and Teri & Pete and the Wellness Cup volunteers along with the BYC for putting on a great event.

There were four classes, and results of the entire race is located HERE. Full Tilt won our very small class (only one other boat) but we still had a great race and got the boat moving really well. We would have liked to have had another four or five boats to race against, but the weather forecast worked against participation this year. I'm sure next year we'll have a lot more boats entered, especially if we get better weather.

Joyce steers us back to the finish line. A rare break in the rain.

Lori and Tim braved the wet weather to crew for us.

Wild Eyes motors toward the line shortly before the race.

The weather finally broke on Sunday, just in time for the party!

Look at the grip Joyce has on that bottle of rum!

Tim and me, holding the cool looking trophy.

Thursday 9/18

2008-09-18T20:21:00.002-04:00

Race Committee tonight!

It's the next to last Thursday night race of the year, and we were RC for it. The breeze was very fresh out of the NE and E, and since we only had about a hour or so until sunset, we put up a fairly fast course.

Crew tonight was Janel, Elizabeth, Derek, and Joyce.

A few crews thought the "B" course was funny for some reason.

Secret and the 30+ fleet starts and heads to Pond Point.

A sunset finish. It was getting chilly after the sun went down, so it was good to get in while it was still twilight.

Next week, The Harvest Moon Race & Raftup!

Vacation photos

2008-09-03T21:09:00.005-04:00

Here's a bunch of photos (17) from our recent sailing vacation. You'll notice the weather is PERFECT in every picture. It's rare to sail for nine days and not get a drop of rain.

We had a downwind run from Milford, and along with way we passed Pete & Teri on Wild Eyes, coming back from Newport; and a little while later we waved to our dock mates at Port Milford aboard Cat's Paw. Click on any photo to get the full-sized version.

Here's Joyce where we anchored in New London on our first night, right across from Electric Boat. It was great having a very nice anchorage in such an urban area. We watched an endless parade of ferries going in and out until dark, and then the sounds of revelry drifted in from the town.

A submarine at the yard. Sadly, no subs were going out or arriving while we were there.

The lighthouse at the point going downriver from New London.

The New London Ledge lighthouse, a well-known landmark.

A schooner in Fisher's Sound on our way to Watch Hill.

There were a lot of boats racing. It gave us something to watch while we sailed again with the wind.

Another schooner that looks like a pirate ship off Watch Hill as we head to Block Island after a nice night anchored in Watch Hill.

A deer on one of the many Block Island greenways. There's some wonderful hiking on the island. Plus, we brought our folding bikes and did a lot of biking.

A Block Island sunset. I never get tired of these.

Me, under the cliffs at Block Rock Beach.

Joyce from the other direction.

Different day, different beach. Joyce on the beach just south of the New Harbor inlet. Having the bikes brought all the beaches on the island within reach.

And here she is again on the same beach.

A very scenic Block Island farm.

Full Tilt at the very best rental mooring on Block Island: #1. The palm tree got us a lot of fun comments and plenty of friendly waves.

After motoring to Mattituck, the day after that we took our bikes out to the wineries on the North Fork. The Borghese Winery had a great little courtyard and a cigar store attached. Here's Joyce enjoying a Maduro-wrapped Corona.

And me, also enjoying a smoke. After we finished that bottle, it was a little tricky riding the few miles back to the harbor. It's almost impossible to get lost in the North Fork, but we managed. We ended up along a scenic stretch of the old highway and actually enjoyed the detour.

The next day we sailed back to Milford. All in all, it was a fine vacation.

Woman at the Helm Race III 8/14

2008-08-14T21:22:00.008-04:00

Lots of no wind for the first half-hour hold on the race, and then we got a nice southerly between 5-10 kts, so we started a bit late but got the race in.

Derek on the dock before the race. The weather was threatening, and while we heard thunder and saw lightning during the race, we were spared any storms.

A WWII vintage PT-boat cruised the harbor, as part of the Oyster Festival. Sadly, we'll miss the whole thing because of vacation.

Spirit drift by Tuggly, the committee boat, before the start.

More Tuggly action. It's a really cool looking boat.

I knew this boat looked familiar! It's the very same "Mary E" that we saw just over a month ago on our previous vacation in Northport. They were restoring it at the time; it's great to see the ol' gal looking so lovely. Here's the blog entry with the picture from July 4th week.

The race finally started, and with us short-handed (only Janel and Derek helping us) we had our hands full and I couldn't take many pictures.

I did manage to snap one last sunset photo. Who doesn't love a good sunset photo?

Great time tonight. Good job by the RC in setting up a workable course under variable conditions. Well done!

Was it or wasn't it a twister? 8/07

2008-08-09T11:43:00.005-04:00

UPDATE: John & Celeste sent me this link to WFSB.Com that has better footage of the funnel, which was indeed a tornado (waterspout). You have to watch a brief ad before the video starts, so be a bit patient. It's worth it.

Here's some cell phone video someone shot from Walnut Beach, about 1-1/2 miles southwest of where we were during the storm.

Whatever it was, it snapped a huge branch off my neighbor's tree and crushed two cars in his driveway, along with damaging my fence.

I guess I'll be replacing that fence now! Time to call the insurance company.

(See the preceding article for my video of the storm)

Wicked weather redux 8/07

2008-08-08T10:03:00.001-04:00

We watched the storm approaching from the NW, but it seemed to want to stay north, so we were getting ready to leave the dock. At almost the same time, everyone's cell phones started ringing with the news of a tornado alert for Milford. Not five minutes later huge thunderbolts started crashing down in the Gulf. So we decided to stay in the harbor and watch the storm from the boat.

Here's about 45 seconds of crappy video that shows the intensity of the storm.

Wild Eyes video 8/06

2008-08-08T10:01:00.001-04:00

About two minutes of shaky digital camera video. But it still looks like fun!