False Starts
Doug (the marina owner) suggested that white paint was not a good idea for the deck – too much glare from it. The ‘white’ paint I bought, Matterhorn White, to put on the deck and the white part of the hull, was looking more snowy white than grey-white as the picture would indicate. So I went by TruValue, found a paint sample that was a *much* lighter version of the green stripe on the side and asked if they would mix my paint to that. First guy passed me to second guy, who passed me to third guy who said, ‘Let’s see’. He proceeded to, rather than look at the ‘formula’ (too much paint in the can – formula wouldn’t work, he claimed. Guess he didn’t learn fractions in school), he just dumped some green in, then mixed it. It came out a nice teal. Great. I’d go with that. I put it on the locker covers and it looked really nice. So I painted it on the deck on Saturday.
The sun was just starting to get low in the sky when I finished. I headed to the car and I looked back ARGHHH! It looked awful!!
I didn’t sleep that night, stressed about what I was going to do about it. Stressed about the wasted day. Stressed about the wasted money ($30/qt x 2).
The next day, I went over and re-evaluated the situation. Decided it didn’t really look too bad. All I needed to do was change the stripe color (too much clash) and it would be fine. I asked others opinions. Erik didn’t like it. My sister, Peggy, thought it looked fine.
But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about people who mess boats up for the next owners, and about what would happen if I had repairs and had to try to find more of that color to repaint portions of the deck. And I took a bit of the original Matterhorn White and put it over a small portion of the teal. It covered well!
So Sunday was spent with the help of Paul and Grant, sanding, the covering the teal with white.
Now my concern is the shine. On the one hand, I’m using one-part polyurethane which, frankly, doesn’t’ keep its shine for very long without waxing. On the other hand, there are products you can buy to add to the paint to tone down the gloss.
We’ll see.
Perfect Teamwork
One of the best ways to quickly improve yourself as a sailor is to race. You commit yourself to a schedule, you learn alot about your boat and how to make it move well. You learn to coordinate the movements of a number of different people to achieve your goal.
Readers of this blog have seen the trials and tribulations my crew and I have gone through when trying to learn those lessons. But today, they paid off. No, we still came in last (although I am anxious to see our corrected time). But we worked like clockwork today, which made for a very satisfying run.
We pulled the boat out of the docks and headed to the channel. Just as soon as we reached it, we had someone come beside us asking if they could pass us. We said of course, and moved starboard to let them pass. Well, of course we got stuck. Leave it to me to get stuck in that channel, close to high tide, with the tide being higher than usual. But we backed up, turned around, and we on our way.
It was cold out there today. Air temperature was in the upper 50’s. But the wind chill made it seem like it was in the 40’s. We had all dressed fairly warmly in anticipation. But we all donned windbreakers with a bit of padding to help.
We motored to the buoy this time. I didn’t want to have our usual problem of getting to what we thought was close, killing the engine, then not making it to the starting line on time. We then raised the mainsail, unfurled the jib, killed the engine and heading towards the starting line. I think the race was started early – I need to check my emails about that – but we stated within about 5 – 10 minutes of everyone else. For us, who usually start about 1/2 an hour late, that was fantastic.
The winds were perfect, putting us between a beam reach and a close haul the entire time. And even better, we were on mark by doing so. Usually, the winds are shifting and we’re having to turn back frequently, or tack frequently, to get to the mark itself. Today, each time, we headed almost straight between the marks.
We worked perfectly as a team. I kept on track, Paul and Grant, my crew, worked smoothly to get the sails moved. It was almost poetic.
We crossed the finish line about 20 – 25 minutes behind the last boat in the larger pack which, again, was good for us. We’ve come an hour behind or, in extreme circumstances, just given up after the first leg and cruised for a bit before going in.
I think today, the only thing I could have asked for was a bit warmer weather. Other than that, it was perfect!
[Top]The Gamut of Weather
Last night, we left for the starting line of the race in very calm weather. No wind to speak of. Barely a ripple on the water. We got to the starting line and most of the other boats didn’t even have their mainsails up, let alone the jib unfurled.
About 5 minutes before our start time, the committee boat announced that it would stick around for 1/2 an hour to see if the wind situation improved. About 15 minutes later, one boat left, announcing that it was too hot and they were out of beer.
A little while later, we were watching another boat up the river, who was heeling over at about 15 degrees. He radioed back a few minutes later that the wind was heading our way.
And it did. Nice wind. Great sailing weather!
As usual, I got the start time off a bit. I was unsure that I’d noted the first horn correctly. But we were to the starting line only about a minute late. Problem was, another boat from the next fleet was coming along the starting line, and he was on starboard tack. So we did a 360 to get out of his way, and headed out.
The race was around one buoy, back to the start, then around the buoy a second time. But that wind was bringing in a storm, and folks started suggesting strongly that the race just be one loop.
There was some confusion about the course. The committee boat was clear as to what it was. Problem was that this was the first race of the fall series and the starting buoy had changed. It used to be the one we were rounding. Now it was one further up the river. And, when the committee boat announced the route, they kept confusing the buoy numbers.
We were doing great! We were not towards the front, but we stayed with the pack. Interesting thing, though. I was sailing close haul, but it actually increased our speed when I let the sails out a tad, rather than bringing them in tight. And I did note that we were at about a 15 degree heel, which does seem to be optimal for this boat.
As folks started to round the mark, the heavy clouds started rolling in. So the committee boat announced that it would, indeed, be one lap around instead of two.
But we were still approaching the mark. I had come up on starboard tack, hugging the side of the river. We tacked at what I thought would put us on a direct line for the buoy. I didn’t take into account the strong current and the fact the tide was coming in. So we were short the mark. Tacked again, then back toward the mark. Still too far down. Next time, tacked into it and we were close enough to see that we were making as much progress sideways, in the wrong direction as we were making forward.
We finally made it around the mark. But by now, the lightning was starting. We abandoned the race at that point and headed in. First one for which we had done so.
Great thing about the race was that we were close to the other boats. We had a fairly good start. We kept up good speed. So we’ve gotten past the first hurdle that has been holding us back tactically. Now I just need to learn to adjust better for the tides and currents when aiming for downriver markers.
[Top]Bravery
So it’s finally happened. I’ve become comfortable with the weather extremes on a sailboat. I think it was this last trip to and from Cock Island that did it. Sailing through a storm, when we could barely see the flashes on the buoys, gave me the courage to know that I could survive just about any extreme.
I decided what it was. I felt in control. I had taken care of the sails. I had them where I wanted them. And I wasn’t worrying about having too much up.
Second part of the comfort level has been having Dew coach me during the races. He’s been awesome, being there to take over if I felt uncomfortable. It’s allowed me to see what my boat is capable of without being panicked that I was the only one onboard that knew what to do, which I felt I really didn’t.
Will anything else happen to scare the bejezuz out of me? I’m sure. But I feel more confident that I can hand whatever I find myself in.
[Top]Wednesday Night Races
Cock Island is coming up soon, and I want to be ready for it. I’d rather not be as nervous about getting the boat hurt as I was last year. So I’ve signed up for the Wednesday night races on the York River.
I don’t know how common those are elsewhere. But this area has at least 2 series of this type: one on the York River, and one near the mouth of the bay. They’re fairly short courses, and held each Wednesday night.
We started on the last race of the Spring series. My crew were Dew-Man, Betty, Paul and Grant. We left the dock about 5:30, in what looked like possible storms. We headed towards R-24, the starting point of the race. As we did, there was chatter on the radio, discussions about whether the race should be cancelled. It was decided ‘no’. But the start time was adjusted, and we missed when it was going to be. We were near the start line (which changed once because the wind had shifted), but got off about 3 minutes late, I’m guessing.
Smoothly on our way, but not knowing what the course would be, we followed the other boats. Not hard, since the group that started after us mostly passed us like we were standing still. 😉
We made our first tack. So far so good. Second tack, and the boat spun around. Not sure what I did. Oversteered? Well, took it all the way around and continued on our way, a bit more behind the pack than before. Next tack went smoothly. The one after that, a full 360 degrees. See a pattern here? Yeah, tacks to starboard were not going well. :'(
Made it around the mark after the rest of the fleet, and ran into the dead wind that everyone else had. The storm was looming at that point, so Dew put on his foul weather gear. I turned the helm over to him, donned my own, then started passing out jackets. Rather than heading towards our mark, Dew headed the boat towards the opposite shore, picking up a nice wind. When we tacked after that, we were flying! 7, 8 mph and the boat at bout 30 degrees tilt.
We crossed the finish line in just under 2 hours. Everyone else was gone, so no one got our time, and we were marked as ‘Did Not Finsh’. Too bad I didn’t record our finish time – could have mailed it in. But ah well! It was just a practice anyway!
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