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| Holiday Inn on the water |
Race results due to the new handicapping aren't final yet.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
June 18 – Race Day
The day dawned – sunny (good) – no wind (bad). During the skippers' meeting the wind did pick up, a bit, gusts here and there so it was decided to go ahead with the race, and I use the word 'race' loosely. As soon as the horn blasted to start the race the wind totally vanished. Les and Chris were so dead in the water they eventually gave up and did the smart thing, didn't race, put up their sun shade and sat back watching the rest of us – just as exciting as watching paint dry. The rest of us just stared at each other and comments such as “Game of bridge anyone?” were heard. Even the catamaran wasn't moving. The wind was so fickle that the cat actually sailed backward trying to get around the first marker.
Race results due to the new handicapping aren't final yet.
Race results due to the new handicapping aren't final yet.
June 15 – Girls afternoon out!
Chris and I commandeered the Matilda for the afternoon (Gerry wasn't around). We were toying with the idea of stealing her for the race on Saturday and thought that perhaps a little practice would be a good thing since we rarely get to be captain.
The winds were such that we could raise both sails at the dock, Les gave us a push and off we went. Modesty prevents me from saying too much about our sailing capabilities – let's just say – we were awesome, especially with Chris at the helm. Gerry showed up, wanting to be captain on his boat (instead of crew on Les') and asked to be picked up at the launch ramp which we did, first try, with no incident, no scratches and no one fell in. Some day we might even take off and come in on our own – stranger things have happened.
And later that day......
Since Chris missed the maiden voyage we all jumped (for some literally – ever so graceful Les) on the Bayfield and took her out for a little spin. It wasn't Les's day, first he has to take a flying leap after pushing us off and drag himself over the taffrail and then despite the impossibly high freeboard Gerry manages to heel us over so far that Les actually got wet.
The winds were such that we could raise both sails at the dock, Les gave us a push and off we went. Modesty prevents me from saying too much about our sailing capabilities – let's just say – we were awesome, especially with Chris at the helm. Gerry showed up, wanting to be captain on his boat (instead of crew on Les') and asked to be picked up at the launch ramp which we did, first try, with no incident, no scratches and no one fell in. Some day we might even take off and come in on our own – stranger things have happened.
And later that day......
Since Chris missed the maiden voyage we all jumped (for some literally – ever so graceful Les) on the Bayfield and took her out for a little spin. It wasn't Les's day, first he has to take a flying leap after pushing us off and drag himself over the taffrail and then despite the impossibly high freeboard Gerry manages to heel us over so far that Les actually got wet.
June 14 – Maiden voyage
The Bayfield's maiden voyage, alas with only one maiden aboard – the other one had some feeble excuse about having to work. We could have used her help in trying to get away from the dock – with no motor and a contrary wind it was a bit tricky to get away from the docks and we weren't looking forward to coming back in.
Contrary to some people's opinion she did not sail like a “pig” - she did herself proud and all was well until Les took the helm. He lost steering, not a good thing, especially with no motor and she's too big to paddle. Gerry quickly figured out that the propeller shaft must be trying to escape, since there's nothing to hold it in place until the motor is restored. He managed to squeeze himself in the engine compartment and made it secure. All in all she went faster than we thought she would, and heeled over further than we thought possible (thanks for rearranging the furniture for us Les).
Thanks to Paul we have some excellent shots of her in action. If you look closely at the third picture you'll see Les in action as well!
Contrary to some people's opinion she did not sail like a “pig” - she did herself proud and all was well until Les took the helm. He lost steering, not a good thing, especially with no motor and she's too big to paddle. Gerry quickly figured out that the propeller shaft must be trying to escape, since there's nothing to hold it in place until the motor is restored. He managed to squeeze himself in the engine compartment and made it secure. All in all she went faster than we thought she would, and heeled over further than we thought possible (thanks for rearranging the furniture for us Les).
Thanks to Paul we have some excellent shots of her in action. If you look closely at the third picture you'll see Les in action as well!
June 12 - Bayfield continued
2:04 p.m. – Mast Assembly
This is a job where you don't want any leftover pieces. The former owner felt compelled to disassemble the entire mast system when he sold it, but fortunately he labelled almost every line, stay and shroud which made the job a bit easier, not shorter, but easier. For all appearances the mast could be raised from either the stern or the bow. An executive decision was made to go from the stern so after attaching the massive amounts of shrouds, stays, halyards etc the easiest way to turn it around was to take it for a walk.
While Don was helping to keep everything from getting tangled Les was playing with the ladder.
Apparently you cannot raise a Bayfield mast from either end, the front end is preferred so pesky nuts and bolts don't interfere. I like to call this “The meeting of the minds.”
3:03 p.m.
So how many people does it take to raise a Bayfield mast? Apparently 9 and a big thanks to all. And what, you say, was I doing? Making sure none of the stays or shrouds kinked or got caught on the way up and when they found out the 2 shrouds on the starboard side couldn't be connected due to the bulbous shape of part of the turnbuckle I took off one of the port ones (rectangular, not bulbous) and swapped it out solving the problem – ta da!
And that night the tomfoolery began.........
This is a job where you don't want any leftover pieces. The former owner felt compelled to disassemble the entire mast system when he sold it, but fortunately he labelled almost every line, stay and shroud which made the job a bit easier, not shorter, but easier. For all appearances the mast could be raised from either the stern or the bow. An executive decision was made to go from the stern so after attaching the massive amounts of shrouds, stays, halyards etc the easiest way to turn it around was to take it for a walk.
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While Don was helping to keep everything from getting tangled Les was playing with the ladder.
Apparently you cannot raise a Bayfield mast from either end, the front end is preferred so pesky nuts and bolts don't interfere. I like to call this “The meeting of the minds.”
3:03 p.m.
So how many people does it take to raise a Bayfield mast? Apparently 9 and a big thanks to all. And what, you say, was I doing? Making sure none of the stays or shrouds kinked or got caught on the way up and when they found out the 2 shrouds on the starboard side couldn't be connected due to the bulbous shape of part of the turnbuckle I took off one of the port ones (rectangular, not bulbous) and swapped it out solving the problem – ta da!
And that night the tomfoolery began.........
Saturday, June 11, 2011
So far in June we've.........
June 5 - Better late than never
Last year we had the boat launched and our first sail April 5, what a difference this year - nothing but rain and chilly chilly weather for most of April.
Gerry sanded and I gave Blazing Matilda a fresh coat of bottom paint and with Les' help we finally got her in the water. This year we remembered to put the wind indicator on before we raised the mast.
June 6 - No rest for the wicked
So here we are again, another boat, another sanding and paint job. Capri is a little easier in that I didn't have to crawl underneath her but she is much bigger.
June 10 - and once more with feeling
Les is pressed into service once again, I wonder how many boats he has launched this year? I know of 5, what a handy guy to have around. Check out the photos - he even helps clean! She was extremely dirty and no good sailor likes a dirty boat (just a dirty girl).
I was washing the far side of the boat, dipping the broom into the water to rinse it when it suddenly just fell in. Les tossed me the other broom, but it threw itself into the water. Gerry grabbed the boat hook which decided it wanted to join the fun and also fell in. All were eventually retrieved thanks to another boat hook which had the good sense not to go for a swim.
I can hardly wait to see what she can do, we've been told she's a "pig" but then we were told the same thing about the Matilda.
Last year we had the boat launched and our first sail April 5, what a difference this year - nothing but rain and chilly chilly weather for most of April.
Gerry sanded and I gave Blazing Matilda a fresh coat of bottom paint and with Les' help we finally got her in the water. This year we remembered to put the wind indicator on before we raised the mast.
June 6 - No rest for the wicked
So here we are again, another boat, another sanding and paint job. Capri is a little easier in that I didn't have to crawl underneath her but she is much bigger.
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| what a dirty guy |
June 10 - and once more with feeling
Les is pressed into service once again, I wonder how many boats he has launched this year? I know of 5, what a handy guy to have around. Check out the photos - he even helps clean! She was extremely dirty and no good sailor likes a dirty boat (just a dirty girl).
I was washing the far side of the boat, dipping the broom into the water to rinse it when it suddenly just fell in. Les tossed me the other broom, but it threw itself into the water. Gerry grabbed the boat hook which decided it wanted to join the fun and also fell in. All were eventually retrieved thanks to another boat hook which had the good sense not to go for a swim.
I can hardly wait to see what she can do, we've been told she's a "pig" but then we were told the same thing about the Matilda.
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| She's big and she's heavy |
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| Les removing the one strap that was | holding the boat to the trailer |
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| The wind made this trickier than normal |
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| Isn't the pointy end supposed to be in front? |
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| Our pride and joy (for now). |
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| Proof is in the photo so he can't deny it. |
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| I blame Les |
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| I blame Gerry |
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