First sail of the New Year

Brian D · Jan 3, 2009

Its been raining in SoCal today. Tomorrow is suppose to be perfect. I am still trying to kick a Christmas time cold I caught. Should go down to the boat and see how she's holding up.

Nice pictures.

Mike B · Jan 3, 2009

Manny, you are a die hard that's for sure. I have to believe you were the only one out on the upper bay, other than some commerical traffic. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
Mike

caguy · Jan 3, 2009

Got out there New Years day, the winds were about 12 kts and no swells. The weather was a little hazy but visibility was never less than 5 mi. Temps were a balmy 59*. There was about a dozen boats out there. I wanted to test out my new homemade furler. It worked like a champ. Not having to hank on the foresail makes it a lot more enjoyable. Also no having to decide between the jib or the genoa. May try to get out tomorrow if the weather clears, other wise it will be more honeydo's.

sand sailor · Jan 3, 2009

i went out sunday after x-mas

:dance: 65 f mild winds nice afternoon till the sun went down

and the wind died

r.oril · Jan 3, 2009

Been itching to get out here too. The weather has been cold here in the High Desert, like low 30's in the am. The upside is I am getting some of my "Honey Do's" out of the way. I did manage to repair the main sail (broken slide) and install the new 5/32 forestay.

caguy...I am still up for a sail with you guys this month or next, just have to get my schedule set. I want to check out the new furler.

kloudie1 · Jan 4, 2009

Installed my rebuilt water tank selector valve and the refinished vent inlet panel for the dorade boxes.. Then helped my buddy get some overheat trouble out of his old 2QM20 raw water cooled Yanmar. Temp was OK at 72 but no wind and foggy.. Visibility less than a mile on Lake Ponchartrain.. Next week will be fine.

iSaint · Jan 4, 2009

Here's the first pic with a level horizon to give you an idea of your pitch (is that the right term?).

Click for larger.

Stu Jackson · Jan 4, 2009

Pitch is fore and aft

and I'm sure some fighter pilots will chime in with how yaw is equated to boats. At least no one called it "healing" but did use heeling.

Anyway, Benny, do you ski? Best cold weather boat clothes are the same stuff. Most foul weather gear is better and cheaper at an REI-kind of store than at a marine store - lots of discussions on this issue every year about this time.

Hardest thing is to find waterproof gloves. I found some obscenely ugly orange ones at ACE Hardware, and with thin insulate-type gloves underneath, they work just fine, although I kinda look like Mickey Mouse in orange!

'Least my hands are dry...and WARM

Scott T-Bird · Jan 4, 2009

Stu ... in the northeast, ski clothes are for skiing, not sailing!

Nope Manny, we were only a few hours away from you skiing at Elk Mtn yesterday. The snow conditions are very good and the lift lines were very short ... thanks in part to the cold temps and wind!!! It is a good thing they have those nice thick, tall spruce wind breaks along the chairlifts ... Sue and I had enough of the cold by about 12:30 when the morning lift ticket ends.

You won't find us on a boat until April at the earliest!

John · Jan 4, 2009

I know Stu got out yesterday, because he sneaked up behind us. My wife and I went out with a four-member family - I've known the dad through our union affairs, but it was their first time sailing with us. I let both kids drive almost all the way. You know how teen age kids and near teen agers are - too cool to show any emotions. When they left, the older one gave me a big hug. A great way to start off the New Year, and reinforces my wish to get more kids on our boat.

Pink Flamingo · Jan 4, 2009

Went sailing....on the ice in the driveway.The affected area still hurts!

ITMaster · Jan 4, 2009

We were out today

Just got in. Brought the boat from Hampton back up to the "Burg". And yes, it was brisk, but I do have cold weather gear, so it was ok for me.

Logged a 40 mile trip in 7 hours. Did some of each, sail, motor and motor sail. Had close and broad reach with 6 to 8 knots out of the east and got up to 6 knots a couple times with the higher gusts. Nice to get the sheets aired out any time one can. Waves were 1 to 2 feet on the bay. Saw a cat out a little after 8 headded south to the harbour and a couple tugs. Lots of CC sport fishers out chasing strippers. Saw direct sunlight when the sun came up over the horizon and one other time about noon for about 5 minutes. Lite rain for about 10 minutes.

And like your temps Manny, I doubt it made it out of the 30's this far south either.

But it was like a bad day fishin; for me anytime I'm on the water is great. The Admiral stayed below keeping herself toasty with the heat.

Ross · Jan 4, 2009

I doubt that we will launch before April 1st. We get some good days but they are often followed by snotty days. get caught in those too early and Nancy will find reasons why we shouldn't go sailing for the rest of the summer.

Buck420 · Jan 4, 2009

Holiday Sail

For those of you who may be interested, here is the log of the Holiday cruise that "L'Attitude" and "Persistance" made recently. VERY nice Winter cruise w/ mostly good weather ... Although there were not many other sailboats out cruising; we were, by no means, the only cruisers out.

2008 Holiday Cruise to Manteo
Fri 12/26/2008 ... UW from Lt Crk w/ Persistance at 10:45. Partly cloudy, Winds NNE 5-10. Temp 45. Arrive Waterside 14:15 after motoring against adverse current. Clark Cundif came into Waterside later on his newly purchased '04, H456. VERY nice. Evening weather, cold, nasty, rainey so we enjoyed appitizers and cocktails on the warm (plugged-in) boat(s).
3.5 hrs. motoring
Sat 12/27/09 ... UW before dawn ( 06:00) so we could make the 08:30 Lock thru Deep Creek. Fog as we motored thru the coffe waters of the dismal swamp canal dodging tree limbs and bumping submerged logs.. hummm... so this is history, huh .
12:00 , Lock Thru South Mills.. ( Lock tender was kind enough to lock us thru early so that we did not have to wait for the normally scheduled 13:30 opening). Motoring down the headwaters of the Pasquotank R. we encounterd several dozen hunters in blaze orange caps sitting in their small boats next to the river bank apparently waiting for dogs and other hunters to drive deer to the bank... (go get 'em Billy Bob).
15:00, Tied up Eliz City. Free dockage, but no power, water. Nice dinner at pierside rest. Foggy overnight, but pleasantly calm.
9 Hrs motoring ..
Sun 12/28/09 .. UW from Eliz City at 08:30. Cloudy, but warm, upper 60's, Winds SSW 10-15... building to 25-30 as we crossed the Albemarle Sound. Fog for a couple of hours at the mouth of the Pasquotank. Close reaching in 25-30kt SW winds on a course ESE across Albemarle Sound in bright sunshine and mid 70's temps...shorts and t-shirts (is this the "Twilight Zone"; are we really in the Fla Keys ? ).
14:00, Arrived Manteo City Marina ($1.25/ft). Shallow Bag Bay Marina has been closed by Vinings Marine Group apparently because of poor condo sales and bad economy.. More appitizers and cocktails, then to a local eatery. Manteo is a quaint, clean, nice little destination. Nice calm night's sleep
5.5hrs motor sailing
Mon 12/29/09 .. UW from Manteo at 08:30. Cloudy, rain, Winds NE 15. Temp 50. Nasty as we came out onto Roanoak Sound. Thank goodness for full enclosures. Motor sailed till turn North toward Northwest R. then motored to Coinjock in improving conditions as sky cleared to the NW.. Arrive Coinjock 14:00. Skys cleared, winds Lt N, Temp mid 40's
5.5hrs (total engine hrs from Lt Creek to Coinjock = 23.5)
Took on 25.6gals diesel @ $2.10/gal = 1.1gal/hr. ? Coinjock probably has lowest cost diesel on ICW
UW from Coinjock at 2:15 .. Sunny, nice. Winds NE 5... Beautiful, sunny, calm crossing of the Currituck Sound
Arrived Pungo Ferry Marina (Now closed and borded up) at 16:45. Tied up (free)... 2.5hrs motoring....
Tues 12/30/08 UW from Pungo Ferry dock at 08:00 after a very calm night. Sunny, cool (low 40's) winds NW 5-10. Motored up to North Landing Bridge for 09:00 opening. 10:00 opening of Centerville Trn bridge then 11:00 opening of Gr Bridge and into locks at 11:10. Beautiful sunny day. Very comfortable inside enclosure. L'Attitude has run w/o problems the entire trip. Got a nice max ebb current cumming up the Eliz.river and around Ft Wool and came into Lt Crk at 15:30.
7.5 hrs today ... 10 hrs total motoring since Coinjock

MoonSailer · Jan 5, 2009

Sunday was a mixed day for sailing in N. Alabama. Foggy at times about 1 mile or less and rain. But even worse little wind. We decided to motor a bit and when we got out on the open lake there was some wind so up went the sails. The wind propmptly died and the light rain began. With fitful wind for an hour or so suddenly the wind got nice 10-12 kts for about an hour and then died. Of course the wind died almost immediately after we turned back towards the dock. About 45 minutes before dark we started the diesel and it was dark before we got stuff in the car to drive home. Dark soft winter days are OK. There were a lot of birds mostly loons and cormorants in the water and sea gulls in the air. If there had been more wind it would have been a great winter sailing day. Even for Alabama 67 degrees is warm in early January. The old volvo MD11C started right up using the cold start lever...no glow plugs.

Benny · Jan 5, 2009

That is the right spirit of adventure. Manny I could not help but noticing that you are lacking a boom vang. For the h27 I would consider the addition of a boom vang the best improvement in handling for the buck that you could make. As you probably have experienced the mainsheet triangle is not very efficient in controlling the mainsail. The addition of the vang will allow you to control twist adding speed and boat stability while reducing heel. All you would need to install would be a boom bail at 1/3 the length of the boom from the gooseneck. A piece of line can be used to hold the vang at the bottom of the mast. I'm trying to get out tomorrow but the temperature here is 80F which could hardly call an adventure.

caguy · Jan 5, 2009

Here are the picts you asked for Timo

Got out there again on Sunday. What a beautiful day. Off shore breeze made for a perfectly clear day. You could see features on Catalina Island 30 mi away. The wind was calm most of the day so I went fishing. Took a nap and woke up to a slight breeze that quickly went to 15-20kts. With a trailing sea and a broad reach, what a thrilling ride home. Hit 6.4-6.8 kts, flew past another sailboat who motored in. I was glad I had that furler. :dance:
Hope you are feeling better Timo.

First sail of the New Year

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