Surprise's Log Day Sailer 11750

September Series Race 1

This was not our best race. Here's the plot:

We ended up third behind the Vanguard 15 and Dick Hoover's Lido-14.
We fouled a Sunfish on the first run, and we did our penalty turn which cost us a bit of time.

Winds were 4-10 kts, decreasing to less than that near the end. We had enough wind to sail home.

Second

Patricia sailed a great race and she won 1st. in Tom's Vanguard 15. We still have 1st for the series, but I'll need to start sailing much better if I'm to stay on top.... Good. I need to sail better.
Unfortunately the GPS didn't record a track, so no data his week, alas.

Check out the Trailer for "Master and Commander: The far side of the world"

A broach and near capsize

It was a rough time tonight. Although the winds were force 3, we had gusts that must have gotten up into the 20 kt range, or at least the worst one was that strong. We didn't see it coming on the first run, and we and broached to with the spinnaker up. Joe was quick enough to blow the vang and ease the spin sheet, but we had a lot of water come over the gunwale. It spooked me. Joe opened the bailer, got the chute down, and we sailed the rest of the race.

The Vanguard 15 kicked our butt, Tom had a great race and was abouit six minutes ahead of us, uncorrected. We just barely managed to beat Dick on the last leg again.

I am beginning to wonder if the changes I've made to the rig are not for the better. It's odd, but the first few weeks it performed very well, now the boat seems to have trouble.

August Series Race 3

Kemah Bridge: Winds NE at 8
JSC: NE at 5

Prediction is for the winds to go to the East.

August Series Race 2

This was an interesting race, We had a reasonably good start, but things went downhill from there. We stayed on starboard tack a long time. I was thinking that we had to be getting foo far left, So we tacked. BIG, BIG mistake, because the rest of the fleet went further left, and tacked later. We started getting lifted on port tack, and they did, too. since they were further left, they pulled ahead in the persistent shift. We rounded third behind Dick Hoover's Lido-14 and Paul Shield's FJ. We hoisted the 'chute for the reach, but the wind was so far forward, we could barely carry it and I think it hurt us. We rounded the mark, still in third. I thought we could hold the course, but I was wrong, we were by the lee and had to jibe. Now we were reaching on port tack and were able to carry the spinnaker, but we didn't get any closer to the two boats ahead.
We rounded the leeward mark and had a lot of trouble getting the spinnaker down. I don't know why, what caused it, if it was a one time problem, or if there's something that needs to be fixed.
We sailed right, but I think we should have tacked and gone left earlier. Dick was covering us, and Paul moved ahead of Dick. This was similar to the situation I had at NACs. I still don't know how to deal with it. We went too far left at the end of the beat. We should have gone left much earlier.
On the run, were able to pass Dick, but only just. We finished overlapped with Dick and Tom Kaczmarek's Vanguard-15. So we ended up with second, it was a fun but at times frustrating, race. I think that using this GPS will help me analyze my errors and make me a better sailor.

Weather as of 3:55pm

Kemah bridge:
Temp - 95º
Winds - SW 5
Rel. Humidity 40%

JSC:
Temp= 97º
Winds - SW 5
Rel. Humidity 52%
Heat index= 112

Alriiiight... get to try out the new gear. Hope it doesn't break...

Series 5 Race 2

is today. Winds are southwesterly, at 5-10, It's hot. Welcome to August. I miss the April series...

Mods made over the weekend

While my beloved Port Admiral was in corporate training on Saturday, I spent time re-rigging some things I was a little dissatisfied with:

First - I replaced spinnaker halyard with a longer one. The crew had been commenting that the halyard wasn't long enough to get the head of the sail back into the turtle. The end of the halyard is connected on a 1:2 purchase. I run the halyard through a Harken microblock which is attached to the line I haul on to raise the sail, to a shackle on the keelson near the mast. The halyard is attached to the shackle via an eye made in the halyard by making a loop and sewing it together. I left the bitter end long in the event the halyard shrinks.

Second - I took the old Spinnaker Halyard and used it to replace the topping lift which was chafing through.

Third - I used the old topping lift and re rigged the main cunningham using a 3:1 purchase with some 16mm airblocks. That cascades with the 2:1 I get from the cunningham going through the cringle to a point where it is made fast to the mast.

Fourth - I added a cascade to the Boom vang, so now I have a 12:1. Took another proctor boom slide car placed it ahead of the existing boom vang slide car, and fastened a line to it that runs to a Harken micro block that is attached to the mast by a U shackle. After the line pass through the block, it continues to the 6:1 purchase I originally had on the boat.

I set the mast up, hoisted the outboard end of the boom up to its maximum by attaching the main halyard to the outhaul. I lengthed the 6:1 vang to it's maximum and temporarily attached the cascade. From that, I was able to determine the length of line required. I lowered the boom to its minimum, and tightened up the vang. It didn't go two-block, so I was happy.

Now, I get to try to it out on Wednesday!

Conversion to Movable Type

I've gone over to movable type and away from Blogger. I think it will work better, although I'm not satisfied with the appearance as of today.