Lubed up and ready to race

Steve and Arlene were busy on the off-weekend again. There is still prep work to do for Block, so any off-weekend is a good opportunity to catch up. last weekend, they:

• replaced bearings in genoa cars; McLubed all other cars (including spin pole hoist)
  
• replaced battery charger and cabling to batteries
• Replaced house and engine start batteries
• checked engine and fuel system -- will have mechanic go over it prior to Block
• inspected fuel and water tanks
• AB washed and dried the kite Big Red; returned to boat

It will be nice to have new batteries for the delivery and it certainly helps for racing where we hope to get a full day of instrument use out of them (as well as keep the after-race beverages ice cold).

McLube is our friend - More McLube. Maybe we should McLube the people on the rail. They have SailKote and HullKote, they should have CrewKote. It would make tacking more exciting! (like we need more excitement). Big Jim says he's a fan of "lube", but I'm not sure he's talking about sailing.

Less than 2 Months

It's less than two months to the start of Block Island Race Week XXIII. In a press release that came out yesterday, they are reporting that there are 125 boats registered now and they are expecting 150 or more to be the final count. That’s over 1500 sailors!

It looks like there will be enough boats for one-design starts for NYYC Swan42s, J/122s, J/109s and the J/105s, Beneteau 36.7, Farr 30 and Farr 40 classes. Plus they will have classes for IRC and PHRF boats. Of course, we don't really know where Apparition will end up in the classes, but we usually race IRC at Block, so we'll be in there somewhere.

For those of you who want to keep up with all the videos, Rolex is working with T2Productions to have a broadcast of the day's events on-line each evening at 9pm. Let's hope they get a shot of us with sails full and our fingers out of our noses.

What a Ride!

Our first day out on the water this year was an interesting trip! The winds were down to less than 3 knots before the races could get under way and then slowly built to about 15 knots at one point. It was good practice to have us go through all the gears as pressure built up.

The racing was interesting. Good starting lines, but there was a pesky ship in the starboard layline for the windward mark. Not to mention that there was a fishing tournament on the Bay - fishermen were all over the course with trolling boards out. We did our best to miss the fishers, but you know, when you have 50 sailboats coming at you, you might find fishing less complicated elsewhere. Always exciting to have an obstacle course, though.

Our races went well. We had good starts with speed hitting the line. We had great windward legs managing to catch shifts and point a little better than our competition. On our second windward leg of the first race, we noticed an offset mark. Not good. We didn't see it the first time up, but it must have been there. Fortunately, no one else saw it the first time up and only us two leaders saw it the second time. No one protested, so I guess it's all a wash now.

Off wind, we couldn't seem to get our speed up and that hurt. The Midshipmen were out in force to represent the Academy, so they could pounce on us just when we were most vulnerable. Navy did quite well. They didn't get distracted racing each other and they able to lay in wait for our errors.

The results are in. In the end, we missed 1st place by 15 seconds (corrected) in the first race and 22 seconds (corrected) in the second. Not too bad for a bunch of old people who haven't raced in 6 months. We did take the gun for both races which is some consolation. We finished 2-3 for a 3rd over-all.

NavySports is telling a different and bigger story. They say that they fielded 5 boats who all finished in the top 7. While technically true, it's misleading since there were two classes and none with more than 8 boats. My Mom could have come out in an A0 boat and gotten 7th place.

Navy did the job, though. Jason Mazzoni and his crew on Integrity did an excellent job. We're keeping an eye on them from now on.

NASS Spring Race 4/18

Just a couple days away from the first race of the season. Naval Academy Sailing Squadron is having it's annual NASS Spring Race this coming weekend and we're scheduled to race on Saturday.

Unfortunately, we have a dock time of 0815. We still need to put in battens, put on runners, and (most likely) tape the spreader ends. Then there is the shaking out of cob webs and, of course, reminding most of the crew which end is the "pointy end".

The weather is calling for 12 knots with gusts to 25. At least it will be sunny. Current water temperature at Thomas Point is 49.1º. That spray is going to be shocking!

Walker Tango Ranger

I was looking at the building Beneteau First fleet at Block this year (wondering why I'm seeing no names from Annapolis yet) and I noticed an interesting entry: "Tango" - USA 258 sailed by no less than Chuck Norris. Okay it's probably not the same Chuck Norris, but that doesn't make it any less amusing to me.

Tango raced in the 2008 Chicago-Mac Race, so she's not just some local coming out for a sail. I wonder if he is related to Dick Norris of Annapolis fame. But back to Chuck Norris jokes.

There's a great Chuck Norris website of supposed "facts" about Chuck Norris. www.chucknorrisfacts.com
Current favorite:

"When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris."

We could even get that on a shirt!

Apparition is nearly Ready to Race

Steve, Arlene, and Keith were down at Apparition over the weekend getting her ready for the racing season. There are still a few rigging and tuning things to do, but they accomplished quite a bit:

• Inspected steering system
• Tapped hull below WL, rudder & keel
• Replaced fasteners on binnacle guard
• Replaced checkstay shock cord; inspected and repaired other shock cord
• Installed new sheet bags
• Inspected & Loctite on all lifeline threaded fittings
• Replaced all lifeline lacings
• Replaced traveler adj line w/non hockling line
• Labeled halyard clutches
• Spring racing sails aboard
• Installed halyards, topping lift, vang, foreguy. etc.
• Cleaned and lubed headfoil and main tracks
• McLubed and taped everything
• Installed deck blocks & mainsheet
• Serviced bilge pump; dewinterized fresh water system
• Installed Ockam jumbos on mast
• Cleaned deck & flushed all travelers and deck gear
• Washed topsides
• Replaced o-rings all tank deck fill

Apparently they also washed down the interior because it "tasted salty". There are many things wrong with that statement. The most obvious is that I've met the crew and I have no intention of tasting anything that is not sanitized and hermetically sealed.

Arlene also sewed a fancy new pocket for a VHF in the main sheet bag. How many minutes will it be before someone puts a water bottle in there? If winch pockets are any indicator, there will be one in there before we get to the boat!

Coming Back

The southbound delivery crew is also signed up and ready to go. Two years ago, they broke all kinds of personal records by delivering the boat dock-to-dock in just over 44 hours! That's some serious speed. With the distance of about 325 nautical miles, that means Apparition's average speed was 7.4 knots! I think it took us about 58 hours to get up to block that year, but we had the same strong winds on our nose.

I seriously doubt they can make that good of time again, but you can be sure skipper Sean will be trying to beat his record. The crew should be well advised to do sightseeing in Block because there will be no slowing down on the return. The crew coming back is:

Sean Reilly - Our most experienced blue water sailor, Sean has done several trips to and from Bermuda including a double-handed race back from Bermuda a few years ago. He's also delivered boats (including Apparition) up and down the East coast.

Jim Comegys - Raced to Bermuda in 2008 and has delivered Apparition back to Annapolis from Block before. Jim is a long-time crew member of Apparition and is definitely the muscle in the middle of the boat.

Keith Scala - He's doing the delivery up to Block, racing for the week, then delivering back! Hopefully he will not be tired of us by he time he gets home. Keith is regular crew on Apparition when racing off Annapolis.

Tom Reilly - Sean's father was somehow coaxed into helping deliver Apparition back. We all look forward to stories of who was really in charge of the delivery home. My prediction is Sean's Mom. Sean didn't fall to far from the tree - Tom lots of experience racing and cursing.

Now the delivery crews can move on to important tasks like what to eat on the trips.