Another Monster

It appears that another monster racing boat has registered for Block Island Race Week. It's the Custom Tripp 75 "Bella Pita".

Looks like the downwind legs will once again be punctuated by harrowing crossings with giant a-sym boats moving at 17 knots with their proboscises/battering rams extended. Keep an eye on your aft quarters - they're coming for you.

Everyone needs Swag

We're moving up to a new level of swag this year - new Henri Lloyd tech tees. Very spiffy!

You need to look good to feel good, and feeling good is important to doing well. Let's hope the new shirts will give us that boost we need to climb the ranks. At least we'll feel cooler.

Now if we could just do something about our ugly mugs, we might look good at the party too.

Going up!

The northbound delivery crew is ready to take Apparition to Block Island. Last year, Apparition decided that 19 years on a fresh water pump was enough and gave us engine trouble before we even made it to the Bay Bridge. A few hours later after hopping around Annapolis for parts, Steve had us back under way to Block.

This year there will be none of that nonsense. Well, at least the fresh water pump has another 18 years before it fails again. The crew heading north this time is:

Marshall Patterson - twice delivered Apparition to Block plus many more deliveries up and down the East Coast, a couple races out to Bermuda, and a few Gulf Stream crossings out to the Bahamas.

Greg Foster - twice delivered Apparition to Block plus many years of living aboard, cursing around the Bay, and racing on Log Canoes in St Michaels.

Keith Scala - first open-ocean experience, but has experience racing and sailing in Block Island Sound and Buzzards Bay. Keith is regular crew on Apparition when racing off Annapolis.

Andrew Geffken - new to blue water deliveries, but many years racing for Dartmouth Sailing Team, racing on LI sound, and racing on Log Canoes in St. Michaels.

The crew is set and the work has started!

Busy Weekend

Steve and Arlene were quite busy this weekend. Apparently they put the dehumidifier aboard, cleaned and lubed the halyard winches, loaded the new checks, runners, jib sheets and spin guys aboard, dried the Ockam dessicants, put the spin pole and wheel back aboard, and vacuumed the interior. Impressive considering the desk is a good 12 feet up in the air at this point.

Other activities included patching the holes from the old sheet bags, inspecting and inflating all inflatable vests for 36 hrs, installing water activated lights on 4 of the inflatable harnesses, getting the MOM (man overboard module) inspected and repacked, and reserving the sat phone.

I think I watched some sports.

Crew List Set

We have the crew all signed up and were ready to practice. Let's hope for some good spring racing in Annapolis to get us prepped. This will be the third trip to Block Island Race Week for most of us and for the boat too!


Steve Bowes: Helmsman
Eric Glaser: Tactics
Arlene Bowes: Pit
Marshall Patterson: Main trim
Sean Reilly: Jib trim
Larry Shaw: Jib trim
Laura Davis: Spin trim
Jim Comegys: Spin trim
Keith Scala: Mast
Cathy Zebrowski: Foredeck

Actually, most of us have more than one job and there is no shortage of opinions about how well you're doing your job. Fortunately we all have tough hides and short memories.

We may have a few alternates sneak into the list. I'll let you know if I hear of any.

Marshall

The Crew House is booked

It's true - we have a place to stay, ferry tickets, and the boat even has some cozy space on a dock.

Our crew-organizer and delivery captain, Sean Reilly, tells us that we are staying at Lee's Cottage. The photos of the place look great, so now all there is to do is draw straws to see who sleeps with Blue! (I hear he sleeps with a knife under his pillow).

I hope we're grilling out every night after enjoying our victories on the course.

Marshall

Apparition is Registered

The races start on Monday, June 21st, but we registered and ready to go.

Current Entries for Block 2009

There are over 100 boats registered already! There are a few boats from Annapolis registered, but not many of our old competitors from the A2 class.

Bruce Gardner's "L'outrage" - USA 73456 - will be there, but they may not be on the same course as us. They're usually a tough competitor, so it will be fun to see how they do.

On our course, we're likely to see:

Gary Jobson's "Mustang" - USA 4219 - Swan 42. While registered from Annapolis, I don't recall ever seeing Mustang racing in Annapolis. Likely she spends her time on the sound. Gary Jobson lives in Annapolis, so maybe there will be some crew from Annapolis too.

Rod Jabin's "Ramrod" - USA 46999 - Farr 40. We see Rod and his hot-shot crew all the time. The Farr 40 fleet is usually tight and competitive, so hopefully they will show us the correct side of the course!

Kevin McNeil's "Nightshift" - USA 40076 - Farr 40 will be there too. All these fast boats from Annapolis should make for some good representation, but I hope there will be someone from our class as well.

Not many monster boats are signed up yet. I see one TransPac 65' is signed up, but that's it for crazy-big boats. I'm sure more will surface soon.

Marshall