Perfect evening sail

[alsantini]

Went out yesterday with long time sailing buddy Tom.  He had an appointment that prevented our usual 10:30 sail, so we met around 3:00.  The winds had been light to non-existent all day but at 2:30 they filled in as the temps dropped.  We sailed from 3 until 7 in 12 mph steady from the NE winds.  We would have stayed out longer but it was getting cool on the water and we could smell the hamburgers from Freddies cooking.  My marina is next to Freddies so we packed it in and headed to a late dinner and a brew.  It turned out to be a perfect afternoon.  I think I frequently forget that late afternoon sailing can be so good.  We have 16 sailboats in our marina and 6 of them were out after 6 in the evening.  This is what sailing is all about.  Good friends, good winds = good times.  Best sail of the season so far.

[Vectordirector]

I always enjoyed late afternoon/early evening sails on Lake Geneva.  The majority of the powerboats would disappear after 5pm and the lake became calmer and less crowded.  Much more pleasant than fighting the waves, heat, and drunk powerboaters during the day.  The wind would hold steady until sunset.  We could usually watch the evening racing, come in, pack up, and catch a yummy dinner at the yacht club or at one of the local restaurants.  Then a 40 minute drive home and pass out.  Rinse, Repeat.  It didn't suck.   

Got out 4 times last week.  Super nice winds around 10 knots on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  Hot, but not unbearable with the bimini up.  Saturday was 15-20 SW and we flew the Corsair around for a couple of hours.  Sunday we had the same winds and tried the Eclipse with a reef in the main.  Boat handled it well and I was exhausted after a couple of hours of sailing her as hard as I ever have.  It started gusting above 20 so we headed in.  Great fun.  Not much wind this week so far so I'm just running errands and hanging by ther pool.  That doesn't suck either.   Retirement and I are getting along quite well so far.  Winds tend to pick up in the afternoon so I'm hoping to get out later today. 

Sail on,

Vectordirector

[alsantini]

Very cool that retirement is still agreeing with you and that you are getting out sailing often.  I have not been out as often as I usually do since it rained most of the month of June - yikes.
Weekends on Lake Geneva or the Chain of Lakes is a zoo and one that I avoid.  Being blown away by huge power boats is not my idea of fun.  I have only been on the Chain once in 7 years on the weekend and for the 8 years I was on Geneva, maybe 3 days over weekends - usually when someone was in town who just had to sail...
How is the new reefing arrangement at the aft end of the boom working out?  I am close to "upgrading"  mine to something different.  It works but not real well.  Slips over a long day after an hour or so and I have to re-tension it.  I have just about finished making Off The Wind mine with some slight mods.
Have a great 4th of July and rest of the summer.  See you in November....  Sail on

[Vectordirector]

Bummer about the rain.  Not much we can do about it.  July is usually pretty dry up there so I'm sure things will get better.  Never been on the Chain but I've heard stories about how crazy it is.  

I went out about 3:00 yesterday into a nice 6-8 knot SW wind and no chop.  I had the harbor to myself except for the random fishing boat.  At about 5:00 I noticed a couple of storms on the horizon to the north and checked them on the phone.  I always stay fairly close to Ponce this time of year so I was out by number 1 daymarker when I noticed the storms moving toward me about 15 miles away.  The wind started increasing and shifted straight west then northwest and continued to build.  I had a screaming broad reach back to the inlet, dropped the sails and boogied in.  It was calm in the canal and I got the boat on the lift as a big clap of thunder announced the arrival of the wind.  It went from calm to NE about 10 gusting to at least 30 in about 10 minutes.  As I walked into the lanai it started raining.  Good timing and my weather training paid off.  Glad I got a nice 3 hours in because today was never more than 5 knots  and the rest of the weekend looks to be calm as well.

The reefing system is still troublesome but better.  I swapped out the small black line (same stuff as the furler and traveler lines) with a slightly bigger (arthur brought it , not sure what size it is, maybe 1/4", I think it is stay-set.  It is smaller than the outhaul line.  We went out reefed on Tuesday and it stayed in the jaws for a couple of hours in 15kt winds.  Anyway, it seems to work better and only came out of the jaws after we were pounding pretty hard upwind in the 2-3 ft. waves that were building.    At that point we decided to head in as the wind was building to over 20kts.  I also need to spray the jaws again with Sailkote as that seems to help.  I'll see how it works next time I need it.  So far I'm liking the change.  

I'm loving the heat.  No, really.  It reminds me of when I was learning how to sail in St. Louis in 100+ degree 90% humidity summer days.  My pool is currently sitting at a nice even 100 degrees during the day.  Just like Lake St. Louis in August was almost 40 years ago.  A sunfish in that weather is heaven if the wind blows.  And it did.  A lot.  I broke a few of those plastic ring dings that attach the sail to the boom, but never broke anything else in many days of 30+ knot gusts.  The boat had an amazingly stout very simple rig.  A few of the guys had "Super Sunfish" with a rig like a laser.  Mast just dropped in replacing the stock one.  They pointed much better but the regular ones were faster downwind.  I'm surely not agile enough to sail one today.  And about 50 lbs. too heavy.  Always loved the sunfish.  Great first boat.

Enjoy your holiday weekend.  Be safe.  November will be here before you know it.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention, my parents have rented a home in PGI for a year while they try to sell theirs at Lake of the Ozarks.  They are planning to be here around the 15th.  Very excited as they are about 20 minutes to Ponce and they will have an empty dock that I will have to fill with a power boat, for non windy days.  I'm leaning toward a lightly used 24-26 ft cuddy cabin cruiser.  Big enough to go play in the Gulf, anchor out overnight, real head, galley, small enough to handle by myself in the canal.  Probably Formula or Chaparral.    I prefer them to the Sea Rays.  Lots of them for under $40K down here, many indoor stored cream puffs with low engine time.  

My house in Lakewood will be going on the market next week.  Things are selling up there, finally, so we'll see how it goes.  My daughter graduated from Hamilton College, Summa Cum Laude blah blah blah majoring in Psychology, with dual minors in Sociology and Spanish, Memorial Day weekend and is now living in NYC, employed in the admissions department of a small private K-12 special needs school.   Mission accomplished.

Livin' La Vida,

Vectordirector

[alsantini]

Very good on all the sailing.  Rained again last night and rain gauge showed 3 1/8 inches this morning.  Sure do not have to worry about watering the lawn.
The chain of lakes is a bit of a PITA on weekends.  But, I never sail on the weekends and the weekdays are usually void of boats.  Last Wed, we started out and had maybe 5 boats on the water.  As afternoon faded to early evening, the power boats all left and sailboats replaced them.  It was perfect.
The reefing system that I will probably put in will replicate my P-21.  A tie off near the back edge of the sail on the boom, a line up through the reefing cringle, down to a pulley and forward to a jam cleat.  Worked well with no problems for the 13 years I owned her.  I put two marks on the halyard.  One red and the other green.  I would drop until the red line was lined up with the cam cleat, go forward and catch the reefing hook, pull the halyard until the green line or better and the luff was set.  Pull on the reefing line on the boom to pull down and aft on the sail, cleat it.  Tie off the sail reef ties and I was good to go.

We had a nice calm weekend out at the Lake.  Watched some fire works from a pontoon boat in the middle of the lake and had an adult beverage or two.  Slept in, sailed the MC for a while - race cancelled but I sailed anyway.
We are emergency baby sitting now at Son's house for a few more hours and then I have some work to get done on presentations for 2 weeks Auto Conference in Joliet, IL.  Should be a good one.  Fair winds.      Al