Blast Reaching!

I pushed Bill & Brigite to go out for a sail on this Sunday (4/25/10), and it got VERY windy!

Brigite & I raced over in Hampton earlier in the day, we came home pretty early and helped Bill in the house, then as it was warm and sunny, we took Silver Fox out, as it would probably Bills last chance to get out before he left for France on Tuesday.

The SW wind was pretty strong when we went out. We changed down to the #3 and put in a reef, and the reach out was fine. We pointed for Thimble Shoal light, but it was getting late so we didn't go all the way.

We tacked to return, and the angle was more forward of abeam, and the wind piped up some more. It was gusty, and the puffs could be seen coming on the relatively flat water. When they hit it was quite a blast. More then we would have liked, but Silver Fox didn't seem to mind and took it all in her stride.

I think we were all probably glad when it was over. Glad that nothing had gone wrong on our old boat! And we were all thankful the wind was warm, as cold air would not have been fun!

Wed Racing 3rd edition

Had Jan as our good luck charm this week! It was light out of the East, and dying. Tide was Ebbing pretty hard all race.

We got hosed at the start last week (timing issue), so we wanted to redeem ourselves this week - which we did!

Short beat in 6kn of breeze up to K, then a long run into the ebb tide to Y. We hoisted the chute and made good ground on the 2 big boats ahead of us, overtaking CYMRU, but running out of runway before catching big red; Restless.

RC shortened the course to Y, and we were second scratch, and with the light air and short course, the results matched order of finish.

We all had a good time, Bill did a great job of trimming the chute in the light breeze, and we were all pleased with the result. It was Jan's first race ever, and she enjoyed it too!

Went to Chicks for dinner and passed up on the bucket of beer at Laffin Gulls, that we won!!!

Second Race Day

(4/14/10) We now look forward to these Wednesday evening jaunts, and improving our skills on Silver Fox. I am especially learning how to drive this heavy and slow boat with its huge door shaped rudder, and getting to know her characteristics.

Good breeze all day, but it was dying as the evening went on. It was East as we went out and we practiced with the #2, and spinn, but changed up to the #1 as the wind continued to die. Very strong flood tide all evening.

The course was set for W/L twice around - S, K, J, K, S. The start was interesting with RC giving us bogus info and being completely out of whack with the flags. The prep sound and 5 minute were fine, then the P went up at 3:22, we were confused and RC said 6:35 to go! Then at the 5 minute mark a sound signal and all flags go down (including p)!!! We were all out of whack and about a minute late in the light air and in bad air at the pin. Ouch!!! Later at the "Club" someone told us that basically we start at 6:30 - that is all the timing we should go with.

Pretty good beat, frustrated that we didn't get to execute our plan, but we fought as much as we could. Popped the chute and gybed early to account for the favorable tide. Barely got around the mark and had a good beat to the finish as the wind died. The tide was very strong and made it hard to get to the finish!

No other spinn boats gave us another victory! Nice as we iron out the bugs!! Another sub-par meal at the Laffin Gull and found out that as a class winner we were entitled to a free bucket of beer, which we will retrieve at the next race!!

Good times and exciting racing for us. We motored back from the finish area getting in as darkness fell. The 3.38 mile race lasted 1:22, so boats corrected almost in order of finish.

Saturday Cruise & BBQ

(4/11/10) After a hard week of work my Dad & I were keen to get some time on the boat and away from the house for a while. It was a lovely day with a gentle but steady SW breeze. The plan was to go for a sail, anchor off the house and go ashore to pick up Brigite for an evening BBQ.

As we went out we had to overcome a couple of wine spilling issues, and the wind shifted from SW to E and came up to a very nice 8 knots. We sailed out towards Thimble Shoal with the big genoa and with nice speed hovering around 5.7 knots.

We tacked and headed back to the house. Came close to anchor - just inside the crab pot bouys about a boatlength from the sand bank. We dropped the main instead of the genoa as we approached - and ancored without problem. Lit the BBQ and pumped up the dink.

Went ashore to pick up Brigite and row her out. We ate nice steaks, garlic bread, brats and caesar salad.

We sailed back home with a new SW breeze getting back after sunset.

It was a perfect evening!

First Race!

(4/7/10) I don't know if Silver Fox ever raced before, it is unlikely, so this may have been her first race ever!!

South breeze was blowing hard and very gusty, probably close to 18 in the strong warm blasts. We decided not to go with a spinnaker as the wind was too much for our old sail and we didn't want to blow it up. We practiced with the #3 and a reef. We were all quite excited and anxious about the upcoming race!

Course was S, run down to K, close hauled to J, broad reach to K, and a beat up to the finish. No room for a spinnaker in that course anyhow, so that was an easy decision.

We started with the full main and #3, planning on putting in a reef at the leeward mark.

Perfectly timed start at the favored pin end, best of the 10 or so boat fleet. Southern Style also had a good start and was faster than us. They whisker poled their roller genoa to scoot past us. The big CYMRU also passed us. On the fetch we stayed high to keep our air clear, but SS was faster than us on all points of sail. Trouble fouled us on Port tack on the beat, but we let it slide.

We had a poor sail plan with the tiny jib and full main, and that probably hurt us. #2 and reefs would have been much more effective. The race lasted all of 38 minutes!

It was a good showing, a little tough being one of the slowest boats, and our provisional handicap was not much help (180) as we cannot sail to that number. But it was tons of fun, and the competitive juices were definitely flowing!

I think we were 6th overall, even with the lousy handicap, and 1st in Spinnaker Fleet, due to the fact we were the only ones in that class!!!

Sailed over to the house before heading for the barn on the very warm evening.

Couple of drinks and lousy food at Laffin Gull and so ended the satisfying and fun first race day!

Silver Fox's Race Practice.

(4/3/10) Wednesday night racing at Little Creek seems like a perfect fit for us. A good excuse to go sailing regularily, and relaxed racing for out little boat. It starts on Wednesday, so we wanted to go for a little sail to get the moth balls off the boat, and do a little practice with the 3 of us.

It was a good SW breeze, blowing straight out the cut., I would say 12 knots. Nice warm breeze on an overcast afternoon. We popped the chute immediately and had a lovely sail out to the channel. We teed up the #2, and rounded a crab pot and sailed back to home just before dusk. The boat felt perfectly balanced with the full main and #2 and was a treat to sail.

A very enjoyable sail, and a good shake out sail getting all the halyards led, sheets on, etc. We had a drink at the dock and headed for home in the dark.

Me & my Dad

(3/31/10) My Dad came over to the USA from France to help me work on the house, and of course to see Silver Fox - I had to get the sailing addiction from somewhere! He arrived Monday evening and on Wednesday we got out for a little sail.

There was a decent breeze all day, so much so I called for the #2 to be teed up, but once out of the cut the wind died off and we changed to the #1. We sailed out towards the 1st bridge, but as the wind veered around and eased we didn't lay the opening.

We tacked and sailed back, most all the sail was at 2 or 3 knots. But it was fun to spend time with my Dad on a sailboat.