Archive for September, 2007
Saturday, September 29th, 2007
Poco Loco (loco)
I said screw it. Yeah my foot doesn’t work worth a damn but I want to sail. The crew is undermanned so if I don’t go they can’t sail either. So I went and we just went cruising instead of racing.
The weather was fantastic and even with our smallest jib up (the #3) we were cranking away. Our goal was to make it to the starting mark to see the start. We actually made it with about a minute or two to spare even though we left an hour later than everyone! It’s a good thing we didn’t try to race, I think I would have really screw up my foot. We followed the racers along the race until they came to the upwind leg, at this point we decide ” nah, lets jut head out and enjoy the day”. So we turned the helm downwind and SURFED with just the #3 up! Amazing sailing.
Going to the podiatrist on Monday, sigh…
Friday, September 28th, 2007
Karma sucks.
What happens when you spend your morning cutting tree limbs at 40 ft in the air with a chain saw? Simple, while unloading the limbs from the roof of your car at a recycling center you slip off the bumper, land funny and sprain your foot. What are the chances? Perfect freaking boat building weather and I sprain my foot! Even worse, tomorrow is the Poco Loco race (I have no idea why it’s called that…) with the Circuit Breaker Crew. Kind of hard to do mast with a bummed foot.
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
A change in “work-style”
It’s been very different working at the new site. Back in the bone yard of the Morgan Marina I had this constant feeling of pressure pushing the project into the gravel that the boat was parked on. Between the crushed boats and the oppressive tent that I had to work on, it was pretty miserable. Especially that tent! Sure it kept the whole thing bone dry and allowed me to make a work shop of sorts, but at the cost of working in 94º heat in a bunny suit. I never knew I could drink so much water until this past August. Read the rest of this entry »
Friday, September 21st, 2007
itching to get working
The glass tapes finally arrived today and I’m ready to jump back on the job. The only thing that stands in my way is the repainting a porch and helping Jack rewire the work shop in Piscattaway. Hopefully I’ll have something more interesting to post by sunday…
Monday, September 17th, 2007
Blame it on UPS
“What have you been doing on the boat Dave?” “Any new progress?” “You mean you haven’t done anything since you moved it? Why not?” Well, blame it on UPS. Almost 2 weeks ago I put in an order for 100 yards of 17 oz biax tapes to finish up that hull to deck joint problem once and for all so I could get on with something a bit more interesting. I also put in an order for 3 gallons of epoxy with 2 different hardeners for the project. The epoxy got here in record time but the tapes were a no-show. Read the rest of this entry »
Sunday, September 16th, 2007
Regatta! 5 kts of wind…
Sometimes you’re flush and sometimes you’re bust. Today was some of the most excrutiating sailing imaginable with wind speeds hanging in the 5-10 kt range and staying toward the lower end. Circuit Breaker is a big boat and it takes quite a bit to get her going so needless to say, it wasn’t really our day. Despite it all, we managed to take second in the A1 class (top class).
Saturday, September 15th, 2007
Regatta! 30 kts of wind! Diaper?
We had a blast today in 30 kts of wind out in the bay. It was so windy that we only sailed 2 races for fear of boats getting damaged (people too…). Circuit Breaker and crew managed to pull off a win and a second place in those two races to give us a nice first day. Sadly we were so busy keeping everything in check that I didn’t really get a chance to take any pictures except for one, but let me just say that I finally know what “sailing on your ear means”. That one picture is of the “diaper”. The sails on Circuit Breaker are largely second hand so there are all kinds of oddities. One of the spinnaker chutes is called the Diaper, for well, here’s the pictures.
Let’s just say that these stains aren’t coming out in the wash (because they’re diesel…). There’s also a huge black spinnaker that the crew calls “The DeathStar” because things never go well at all when its in the air.
Thursday, September 13th, 2007
New home for Hobyn
It was a good couple of months at Morgan Marina but it feels great to be be out of the bone yard.
Today’s haul went perfectly and Hobyn is now sitting pretty in Piscattaway.
It was interesting during the whole move. At one point, the yard moved the boat about 100 feet to the travel lift while I was on board. Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
The road trip saga
You know you’re in for a haul when your favorite radio stations turn into religious talk or country pop stations with bouts of static in between. You reach for the seek dial and try to find a new station that’s more pleasing to the ear but you know that you’re going to change it again in about 80 miles. You plan your rest stops by the average gas prices of the state (i.e., avoid Connecticut). It was a long, long, long and eventful trip. [note: long story ahead, if you were looking for a quick read, look elsewhere but I think it’s a pretty good story] Read the rest of this entry »
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
The LAST “stand”
After combing the net, calling numbers, and sending emails, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is only one way out of this mess before Thursday.
ROAD TRIP.
I’m cutting out the middle men and going right to the Brownell factory in Mattapoisett Massachusetts. Yes it’s 300 miles each way, yes that is a lot of driving, and yes it’s going to cost me almost $60 in gas. Why am I doing it? The stands are only $99 each for the SB-2! The savings in 1 stand pays for my gas and lunch. I save more than $200 bucks and get to go to the land of chowder and lobsters. The only catch is that I need to make it there by 4:30 so I better get a move on.