Mast Down

Roger, Stan and I dropped the mast today on Roger's boat. He's taking it to Mobile, AL to get the transome fixed and to get some other "go-fasts" finished up on it.

After 18 months of being crew aboard, it was neat to finish off the way I started -

I first noticed Roger's boat parked at the Long Beach Yacht Club and when one of the first Hurricanes pulled through during our stay here, he dropped the mast and pulled the boat to higher ground.

When he brought it back to the club, I asked if I could help and that was that.

Several races and trips out to the barrier islands later and it's time for the Velasco's to move on to the next spot.

Thanks for all the good times Roger!!!

Sailing Sunday

Sunday the wind was supposed to hit 25 (in the gusts) - but the forecast Sunday morning had the winds lower than 20.

Roger, myself, Bill (Whitmire) and Stan-O (Wiles) went out around 1145 and the wind was a solid 15 mph. The engine choked up pulling out of the dock - we had just gone over a drill to throw out the anchor if something like that happened - self fulfilling prophecy???

We hit 14.5 mph on the way out to Cat Island (upwind) and 15.9 on the way back (broadreach).

The beaches were relatively clean (no visible oil) and the weather was as nice as it could be.

Not so good backing down from Cat - prop dug and popped the transom - fiberglass repair time.

It was great crewing for Roger on the F28 these past couple of years. I learned a lot that I hope to be able to apply in the future on my own F-boat (and on my Weta).

Ship Island Sail

Roger called up yesterday and with a promising forecast (10-15 from 1200-1500, 15-20 from 1500-1700), I got to help break-in the new standing rigging he put up on his F-28.

The wind was howling for most of the trip - close reaching on the outbound run getting 17.1 mph.

Spent about an hour out at Ship Island right by the pier. Nice facilities, but everything was closed (off season???).

The run back was a broad reach (started out as a beam) and we would get swell pushing from the port stern quarter. Made for a quick run back hitting a max downwind speed of 17.9 mph.

The anemometer at Gulfport never recorded a gust past 20 mph while we were out on the water - real efficient sailing.

Bull Carp!!!!!

So much for TS/TD Bonnie - the graphs says it all.

I went out with Roger today on the F28 expecting a wild ride. The wind DID NOT deliver.

It was still a great sail - got 8.8 kts out of the wind today and made a straight run out and then back from Ship Island (it's always nice sailing when you don't need to do tack after tack to get to where you want to go).

I packed tons of windsurfing gear in anticipation and WHAM - no wind.

Man I've turned into a cranky whiner...

That's what happens to surf/wind junkies when you don't get any (wind or surf).

Oh by the way, there was some oil on Ship Island, but no sheen at all on the transit out and back. The dispersant certainly did something to prevent buoyant surfacing or the SW winds we usually get are pushing the oil further East (Pensacola on).

Well - there's always tomorrow....

Didn't eek one in...

Roger and Michelle took us out on their F28 yesterday.

Marlon and Noe were super troopers (but bribing them with a $5 boost in their allowance didn't hurt either).

We hit Ship Island, got to picnic, body surf and hunt hermit crabs. Barrier Islands are really cool places - and Ship was no different. After an hour of fun, you could see the thunderboomers off in the distance so we decided it was time to beat feet back to Long Beach, or so we would have liked to.

The thunderstorm system was moving NE at a fairly quick clip, but as we were rounding the NE tip of Cat Island, it stalled and then shifted to the E. The tail end of the system caught us, but the $5 bribe even kept Marlon and Noe chipper despite the gusts/rain/lightning.

I'd say the kids got their sea legs.

Fun day that had a Teki Maki ending!

Another Regatta Saturday...

Came in third.

We got 9.7 kts out of the wind today (11.5 kts from the NDBC site).

What's up with that????!!!!!!*(*^&*%$&^

Although number 2 cheated by throwing up a spinnaker (this series had a 'no head sail' rule).

Another good excuse would be 'it was really hot' or 'the wind was light'.

How about 'the wind clocked around and gave the lifts to everyone in front of us, but not to us'?

Seriously - I though we (Roger, Camille, me) sailed a good race - we didn't blow any tacks, or screw up (too many) lay lines - we just got beat.

Pictures taken with the GoPro (I love this camera!!!).

Oh and did I say 'it's hot down here!'?

On the local news

http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=12451526

Here's the link

Look for the F28 on the way out (motoring, not sailing).

It's also looking like the oil is not immediately threatening - wonder how long we'll be this lucky???

Amphibious Saturday

Fun Saturday!!!

UCT 1 is down here in Gulfport supporting Seabee Day and conducting other business. I can't turn down any opportunity to dive (and didn't even though the water was more than a little bit green). HOOYAH Seabee Divers!

Then, without much turnaround, it was off to Long Beach Harbor for yet another race on Roger Evans' F28. Four boats raced today and we came in second only by a few boat lengths (and a few minutes based on corrections).

For the record - MONOHULLS SUCK! Why sail slow when you can BLAST! Check out the spray flying off the starboard ama!!!

We started about 35 minutes behind the other boats (staggered start based on correction factor) and after having to go downwind on the first leg (not a trimarans favorite point of sail), we ate up the course on the second (nearly a beam reach) and third (close reach) legs. Got up to 14 kts (my GPS ran out of battery power, but that was the highest speed I got) on a NE-N-NW breeze.

Saw more than a few dolphins - and NO OIL. I'm not going to talk about it for fear of jinxing the Coast....

Tomorrow is Mother's Day!!! If the weather cooperates, SUPing! Stay tuned!

Farrier/Corsair Trimaran Nationals

Took an afternoon off and went to Ft Walton Beach, Florida where the subject event was being held. What a unique opportunity to check out so many different types of Farrier and Corsair boats in one stop!

Ian Farrier (the boat designer) was present as this was the 25th Anniversary of the F27. He was very patient as most of the owners asked him every question under the sun concerning the lineage, ideas and inspiration behind the common man's trimaran.

Got home real late and it definitely messed up my internal clock at work (imagine sitting in a not too exciting, but still important meeting, and the room temperature starts to get rather warm - your head starts bobbing like a hyperactive fishing lure - and then you wake up realizing you've been under for several minutes - not that that happened to me today.... but the feeling was something like that)

Lots of knowledge gathered in a very short period of time - efficiency. Me likey!

In case you didn't know, Ian Farrier is the gentleman in the blue shirt (check out the socks).

Racing Day 2

Same crew, winds for the SE this time. Ran the course in reverse. Only 2 boats (us and a 36' Catalina) running today. DIscussion was that after the events of last week, lots of people were gun shy of the forecasted winds.

Roger told me his strategy for winning the overall trophy - but I'll keep that secret.

Dolphins starting to come back - warm waters returning!!!

No pictures today...

Racing Day 1

Yesterday was a bust - lots of wind but Marlon wasn't feeling well - twist my arm... I so rarely get to take a nap. No Dauphin Island kiting and shell hunting. However, after a nice long snooze session, we still took a drive down the beach to take in the beautiful weather.

Today, wind was nuking!!!

Met up with Roger (owner/skipper of the F28 I'm crewing on) just before 1200. We were out sailing by 1250 and racing by 1345. We were doing nicely until around 1445 - between us and Gulfport (off the port bow) there was what looked like an overturned sailboat. It was a capsized boat that the owner, crew and several racers (all the boats dropped their sails to lend a hand) could not right. By the end of it all, the mast had floated off and the hull was just poking out of the water (all 13' of it - not that deep between mainland and the barrier islands). Hopefully the owners can get the boat salvaged (which they should).

That ended the race and we (Roger, Camille, Missy and I) headed back in. My GPS read 16.6 kts max speed - Roger's hull mounted speedometer read 14.7 kts max. Not bad. I think we would have easily taken first if circumstances didn't sink a boat today.

Next race next Saturday!

Sailing Sunday

Roger (the owner of the F28 I talked about last weekend) called and asked if I would like to crew today. I said yes and at 1000 this morning, I got to see he, Kenny, and Camielle step the mast. I learned alot.

Kenny couldn't make the sail afterwards, but the rest of us took the boat out - in horribly light wind (3-5kts).

I got to helm most of the way out and back from Cat Island. We beached the boat at the Northeastern tip of the island. These trimarans are awesome for this type of sailing!!! Shoaled in less than 1'!!!

On the leg back, we put up the kite and I learned alot about sailing downwind (more like broad-reaching) using an asymmetric.

Roger is the guy in the hold. Thanks amigo!!!

Great day!!!

Roger's Farrier

On the way to go kiting today, we passed by the Long Beach Yacht Club and the trimaran I've seen was being hitched to a truck. Turns out Hurricane Ida is headed North and will hit somewhere between here and Panama City, FL. The LBYC asked everyone to move their boats out of the area and that's how I met Roger.

We stopped by and talked to the owner (Roger) for awhile about his boat. It's a Farrier 28, built in 1998 and it's in great shape.

I told him we have a Weta and that we often launch from the eastern part of the LBYC. Turns out he has been sailing multihulls extensively and with age, he's turned from his Nacra 5.8 to this F28 to keep the thrills up without the drenching/pitchpoling/hull hauling factors that the cats give.

He invited me to crew for him one day - I left him my card and hopefully we'll go sailing soon!!!

This is one of the boats I've been eyeing to get once we plant roots. Having a chance to crew one will be awesome!