Daysail - 07/10/13

Melanie and I were able to shoehorn in a couple hour afternoon day yesterday, her first sailing (& lessons).  The wind was light enough to hoist the main at the dock for the motor out. We initially sailed under main alone with a few tacks & points of sail orientation. Nearing North Dumpling we put up the jib, the old original lapper that came with the boat. The breeze was now up into the low teens making for a brisk ride.

 

West of North Hill we tacked back to the east along the north shore of Fishers, and witnessed a Tartan 33 overtaking to leeward inadvertently cut inside South Dumpling’s green can, luckily clearing the rocks.  The skipper was single handing and steering from the low side unawares of the buoy, till he saw it pass close abeam to windward.  

 

Abeam West Harbor, we bore off wing & wing (pole-less). Halfway back to Noank, a jibe to port wing & Melanie kept us head to wind, while I dropped anchor. Then under anchor we furled the main (winds in the mid-teens). And commenced with a pleasant motor back to the dock.

 

13:56 S 12 6.00 Fog/Mist SCT015 78 74 79 72 87% NA 80 29.90 1012.3

14:56 S 10 4.00 Fog/Mist BKN008 OVC048 75 73   94% NA NA 29.89 1012.1   

15:56 S 10 3.00 Fog/Mist BKN007 OVC013 75 74   96% NA NA 29.86 1011.1   

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2010 Race Synopsis

Here’s a synopsis & some points to consider from our past (2010) season’s races. I did not include the Early Bird, Hospice, Ram, Fishers & the Commodore’s Cup as there is little or nothing there to critique. Please re-read those carefully also.

WNR - Less than 8 weeks to go...

2010 WNR dates
Written by Michael Lachance
Sunday, 21 February 2010 15:21

16 Weeks of Wednesday Night Racing

The MRMSA Board of Managers has set dates for 2010 Wednesday night racing.

This year’s schedule is based on a recent survey or WNR participant and the membership’s desire for more racing.  The spring series will begin Wednesday May 19 and the summer series will conclude on September 1.

This provides 16 weeks of mid-week fun and competition!!!  Stay tuned for more details.

more...

A Christmas Poem by R.L. Stevenson

"CHRISTMAS AT SEA"

The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seamen scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.

They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.

All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:
So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born.

O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves.

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.

They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
"All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call.
"By the Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate Jackson, cried.
..."It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied.

She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.

And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.

By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94).

Delivering Empty Pockets to her winter home

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Gradient Wind: N to NW – 5 to 8 kts
Current:  flood Race Point 1545

Temp: 50

Yesterday, Brian and I (bundled appropriately for the weather) shared the last sail of the season on ‘Empty Pockets’.

Sailing off her mooring at 1215 in a slight northerly and after ghosting down the Mystic River between the Rock-pile and Morgan Point, and then reaching across to Groton Long Point, we continued down to Black Ledge short of the Thames River.   At BL R”2”, we bore off wing & wing towards Race Point, discussing the likelihood of rounding Fishers Island.  Shortly after passing inside and abeam Silver Eel , with the wind backing we began a reach towards R”2” at the Point, eventually rounding hard on the wind; a fickle sea breeze losing a squabble with the gradient.

After sitting off the Elizabeth Field for a half hour or better with no gain on Wilderness Pt, we bailed back towards Race Point with just enough breeze in the weakening flood to weather the buoy.  Skimming past Silver Eel the breeze freshened, building to 8 kts, clocking northwest at North Hill and through the Dumplings.   Passing Intrepid we witnessed in the distance the sunset (1643), along the south side of Seaflower, a rare occurrence sight into the waters of Long Island Sound*.  Again the green flash failed to show.  

After dousing the sails alongside Noank Shipyard, with a full moon peaking through the clouds and temperature dropping rapidly, the motor up the river in the dark was uneventful, securing Empty Pockets in her slip at 1800.

* For most of the year the sun sets over the Connecticut shore to the northwest or over Long Island to the southwest.   Only for a couple of weeks in the spring and autumn does it set over the waters of LIS.