Good Decisions

Sailing

Made some of my better decisions the last few days.  On Friday I was at the office a little later than I would have liked (not to the good decision yet).  But it was a gorgeous day - partly sunny, in the 70s.  Bike weather.  With the cooling temperatures, earlier sunsets, and intermittent rain, I hadn't been out on the road in a while.

Coming home, I weighed the pleasure of a ride against the chance of getting caught out past sunset, which I really don't like on the unlit trails I would be on.  If I had waited 20 minutes, it would have been the wrong choice.  But I quickly changed and rolled out.

It was a great ride - warm, little breeze, and no crowds.  Well, there were some leaf-peepers that made some parts of the trail perilous.  But away from them, it was lovely.  I rode out to Hain's Point, and East Potomac park looks fantastic, with the trees all turning.

Coming back up to the Mall was even better, as the failing light gave all the marble monuments a warm pink hue.  Just a great ride, and I'm really glad I went.  And on Sunday, I went sailing with Sarah & Paul, and decided to take my camera phone on the boat, which I usually avoid.  I'm usually the type that would lose it overboard, get it crushed down below, or something similarly stupid.  But I was able to get some nice pictures of Sarah & Paul & Louie which I liked.  And then we chose to come in before it got too cloudy and cold: another good decision.

Sea Dog

It was another beautiful day on Saturday, and Paul & Sarah were nice enough to invite me to go sailing on their O'Day out of Annapolis again.  It was not blowing quite as hard as the last few times, but with less traffic and very light seas it was very comfortable and relaxed sailing.

Conditions were so good, we were able to concentrate on experimenting a little bit.  The first test was unintentional.  Sarah was on the tiller, and was sharp enough to notice that the depth sounder had suddenly started reading below 4 feet.  The O'Day draws about 2.8.  So she called for an immediate tack and we all performed pretty flawlessly.  Everybody did exactly what they needed to do without being told - even Louie (pictured above).

Later, as we were headed back towards shore, we tried going wing-and-wing.  It was a little challenging, since the whisker pole wasn't set up.  I tried holding the sail out away from the boat by hand, but it was surprisingly tiring.  I had to hang out off the stays, and with the following seas keeping my position with all the rolling was more work than I would have guessed.  And we didn't seem to get much speed out of it.  But that's why you experiment, I guess.

There was some traffic shenanigans on the way back due to some construction, but the sailing was worth it.  Though I've got to stop looking at the boat from a racing point of view: "You know, with a spinnaker we could really surf downwind back towards the creek..."  Boat noun: a hole in the water you throw money into.

Old Bay

The past two weekends I've been out to Annapolis to help Sarah & Paul with their boat.  Last weekend was mostly about boat work - cleaning, re-rigging a few things, trying to fix a leak in the gas tank for the outboard.  That day had two particular highlights.

First, we had to install a wind indicator at the top of the mast.  This meant someone had to go up the mast.  I volunteered - I've always enjoyed work aloft.  So up I went, and prepared to get to work.  First, we decided to test the mast head lights, to make sure they were in good working order.

This is where the story takes an interesting turn.  With two naval architects, and two experienced sailors onboard, you'd think someone would have remembered this important fact about working aloft on small boats: it radically shifts you center of gravity.  Enough so that, say, having a person my size at the top of the mast almost eliminates the righting moment when the boat heels.  So when the crew shifted down below to reach the light switches, the boat heeled over.  A lot.  To the point were I looked straight down and saw the pier - the far side of the pier.  But the she stopped - once I knew that was as far as she'd go, I knew I could just ride out the  rest. It was actually pretty fun.  And I did eventually get that windex in place.  It was a hell of  ride.

The day was not through with us.  Sarah & Paul had brought their dog, Louie.  And later Louie decided he wanted to get off the boat onto the pier.  Trouble was, he didn't quite make it.  Into the Chesapeake he went, and we had to haul him out by the handle installed on the back of his lifejacket.  He was drenched, but he helped by shaking most of the water off onto us.  Good dog!

This weekend the boat was all dialed in, so we were able to get out quickly and sail south of the Bay Bridge.  It was a perfect day for sailing - good steady breeze, sunny and warm but not hot.  Just ideal.  Louie acquitted himself well on the boat, and all four of us did quite well pulling off some very nice tacks - more challenging that it sounds since there are three adults and a dog in a fairly small cockpit.

Out on the water we were surrounded by every possible type of boat and ship.  I saw a cargo barge, a pilot schooner, a topsail schooner, a Farr 40, a Nonsuch, a few very nice Catalinas, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, and an MSC containership.  Between the sights, the company, and the excellent sailing, it was just about a perfect Sunday.

It's Time for the Boat Show

The Annapolis Boat Show is this weekend, and I was able to go with friends.  The show is enormous - every size sailboat from small dinghies to large schooners.  Plus tents and booths for all the nautical gear any sailor could wish for.  I didn't see all of it, by a long shot.  But I got a good look at some nice racing dinghies from Laser, some cruiser from Catalina, even the schooner Virginia, the state's official Tall Ship.

As is so often the case in big events like the boat show, there was absolutely nowhere to sit down and take a break.  I'm sore from being on my feet all day.  So today will be given over to aggressive relaxation.

Before the rest, though, there was the hockey game.  Some of my friends had tickets they were unable to use, and were generous enough to offer them to me.  They were up high in the corner, giving a pretty good view of all of the ice.  And it was a good game - the Caps trailed through midway through the second period, and took the lead late in the third.  There was some sloppy play early; it's only the first home game, so that wasn't too surprising.  That also meant we got to see them hoist the Southeast Conference pennant they won last season.

All of this made for a very long, fun day, but an exhausting one.  I'm already looking forward to  a few naps and going back to bed.  So  lazy...

Bruised, Sprained, and Happy

Yesterday started out so hot and still - even a little muggy. I hate that kind of weather, and it is all too common here. However, I knew a front was headed our way - big storms predicted for today. Fronts mean changing conditions. And changing conditions mean wind.

I had all my sailing gear gathered up and ready, and right after lunch I saw the tops of the taller trees across the street begin to sway. I loaded Betty onto the roof rack and drove over to Gravelly Point. As usual on nice days, the park was packed. I was lucky to get a space right next to the grass - it makes it easier to offload the boat and set her up. I was on the water in no time flat.

For the upper Potomac, it was about as perfect as it ever gets. Warm, in the low 80s. Partly cloudy or hazy, so it is sunny but without too much glare. And good, steady breeze out of the south - 10-15 knots, and none of the usual flukiness. It made for fantastic sailing. You could make good progress to windward since the current was with you. If you wanted to just bury a rail (or your leeward ama in my case), you could set up speed runs on the broad reach, criss-crossing the river.

Starting at the point, I worked my way downriver about as far as the end of the Naval Research Labs, near the plants at Blue Haven. As the crow flies that only works out to about two and a half miles, but it is the farthest south I've gotten sailing out of Gravelly Point. If I hadn't gotten hungry, I could have made it to Old Town, easily.

Betty performed beautifully downwind. I set the sheet in the cam lock, and didn't even have to touch the rudder. We eased straight back towards Fort McNair until we hit the lay line for a screaming broad reach back to the dock. It was a great day of sailing - perfect conditions, not too crowded in the river, and it stayed that way for as long as you cared to enjoy it.

Back on land, things got a bit trickier. Loading up the vaka (center hull), I set the stern up on the roof rack, and began to lift the bow. But something slipped, and the whole thing started to fall. I caught it, awkwardly, by twisting my left hand around some, and pinning most of the weight against my hip, braced against one of the akas (cross bars). I had to hold it like that while I figured out a way to reset myself to lift the bow without any more slippage. I managed it, but it feels like I sprained my left wrist, and there is a nasty-looking bruise on my hip. Pretty minor though, and a small price to pay for such a great day.

Fender

I think there was something in the air on Saturday, because it seemed like everyone, on land and sea alike, had lost the ability to drive in a reasonable manner.

Sarah & Paul invited me to go sailing with them out of Annapolis for the day; one of Paul's coworkers has an O'Day 240, a nice little cruiser named No Problem. They had all gone sailing together, and the owner was impressed enough to let them borrow the boat for the day. I was thrilled to get invited along, since I haven't been sailing on anything over 16 feet for years, and I miss offshore sailing.

It was absolutely perfect on the water. Plenty of breeze, sunny but not hot. The wind did clock around some on us, and the tide was not entirely favorable. But if the weather was actually perfect, the sailing is less interesting - nothing to do. It's more fun if you have to work the sails, read the wind and the currents. So it was just fantastic; we ate lunch on the water, got the boat up to 7 knots (according to the GPS, at least), and put in some sea miles south of the Bay bridge. I had never been on the water before with Sarah or Paul, and they are a joy to sail with - sharp minds and easy manner, which I believe are critical crew characteristics if you want to enjoy your time on a boat. I just wish I was a little fresher with my sailing skills; there was a time when I would have had all sorts of handy tips and tricks for sail trim, boat speed, etc. But it's not like we were racing or anything.

But, our time on the water was wrapping up, since their dog Louie would soon need to be walked back in Virginia. So we headed back to the slip, and noticed that the wind was favorable for sailing right up the inlet. We set up, made the lay line, and headed in, just ahead of another, slightly larger sailboat. We head up the channel under sail, executing a pair of nice tacks. However, the channel turns pretty radically at the third and fourth sets of buoys, as you can see in this satellite view:


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We lost some speed coming out of the first tack into this hard turn. The other sailboat was motoring, and they didn't dump any speed when we started to stall, and were forced into another tack by the turn. We had very little speed, and they passed us on our starboard side. My rules of the road are rusty, but overtaking yields to overtaken, power yields to sail, and you err on the side of safety in a channel where vessels are restricted in their ability to maneuver. So I sleep easy, knowing we were in the right. But we ended up having to fend off with our bare hands, pushing on their boat, one of the pylons for the channel markers, all while Paul got the motor started and we brought the sails in so they would get damaged.

All in all, it was an ideal accident. No damage, everyone had some excitement before the letdown of cleaning up and leaving the boat. And it helped my confidence, oddly - a lot of things came back quickly, I like to think I was helpful. And I wouldn't hesitate to sail with those two again - I know if things go down, they'll be ready.

Oddly, it was like that all the way home, too. It seemed like everyone on the road was intent on cutting each other off, blasting across multiple lanes of traffic without hesitation. And there were other incidents of foolishness on the Bay, but it was just power boaters being their usual inconsiderate selves, so it isn't that remarkable.

In other news, go watch baseball. The Rockies have won something like 60 of their last 61 games, and it looks like the Indians and Red Sox might be in it for one hell of a slugging match over the next few games.

Hull Speed

Quite suddenly, the weather here in DC has become ridiculously gorgeous. Perfect for picnics, bike rides, and other wholesome frolicking in the out-of-doors. On Saturday, I thought I might go for a nice long bike ride. Then I noticed that the wind was 15-20 knots.

The sailing was outstanding. I took Betty, it was a wild ride. Even as a trimaran, I though I might capsize her in some of the gusts. Also, while she is a fine little sailer, she does not really plane when she picks up speed. She kind of smashes through heavy chop when under sail. So heading upwind she moves quick, but you ship a lot of water over the bow. No harm done, just have a towel waiting back on shore.

I have never been good at estimating boat speed, so I hesitate to guess just how fast she was moving. Her hull speed would be about 5.3 knots, but the formulas for hull speed are not well suited for multihulls or long, thin vessels like kayaks. And Betty is both, so it's hard to guess what her top speed might be. But her mast had significant bend in it (as designed), the amas submerged from time to time, and we made it great time all over the Potomac and Anacostia rivers.

Advice & Consent

AKA Garage Sale Lothario

Tuesday was different and interesting.

I rode in to New Jersey avenue, probably for the last time in a while. I'm transferring out of the program that is headquartered there, and headed back to the home office. I'm excited, for a number of reasons: I'm interested in the work I'll be doing, I'll be working with Sarah and Zina instead of Clowns, and I'll be back in my own office instead of sharing a room. The only drawback is even though it is closer to my house, it will be more difficult to bike there - no shower or locker facilities. Until the gym in the basement reopens, if ever...

After a productive morning, I rode over to CG HQ to meet Dave for lunch. It was very pleasant, and I bumped into a few old classmates and friends from my Academy days. And the weather relented just enough so I wasn't a sweaty mess when I got back.

On my ride in, I had noticed some tall masts and sails on Waterfront in DC, so I detoured through East Potomac Park to have a look. It was Gloria, the school ship of the Armada Nacional de Colombia. I can't find many of her particulars, but she looks like a modified copy of EAGLE. Regardless, she is a beautiful ship. I admit I was a sailing snob when I noticed that her sails were not harbor furled for her port call. You've got to square that away in Bristol fashion, if you ask me.

Shortly after I got home, I got Stella back from the shop. She failed inspection, so I had 15 days to get the various problems fixed. Nothing big - bulbs and similar things I hadn't even noticed. The one thing I knew going into the shop was the driver's side mirror was cracked. And that ended up being half the bill. All set for another year, though.

Sarah & Paul came over for a quick, simple dinner. It was just store-bought gnocchi and sauce, a very plain salad, and some cinnamon swirl bread I got at the farmer's market. They were good enough to bring some beer that a friend of Paul's brewed, and it was surprisingly good.

The reason for the visit was I needed Sarah's advice regarding a private matter - which will remain so. But it has been fascinating to me, how interested my friends have been in this subject. I'm not used to this kind of attention in my personal dealings. Steph seems to think the attention embarrasses me, but that is not the case. It is just completely unfamiliar. Her explanation is that they are just excited on my behalf. And I think once I get used to that , I'll learn to appreciate and welcome it. But right now it weirds me out a little.

However, the interest comes with one huge perk: expertise. This is not a subject I've ever been gifted with. But Steph & Aaron, Paul & Sarah, Meg, etc., have all been happy to assist me. And it has been extremely helpful. Never hurts to get smarter, no matter what the topic is.

Lunchtime Conversation

Is that guy wearing he-capris?
- Z, on the way back from Moe's

And that was funny enough to make my day.

Good news, too. I was at the home office today, and my boss stopped by to tell me he's putting things in motion to pull me back from my current assignment as a glorified admin assistant. I get to be an engineer again, which is very exciting. The only drawback is biking to that office is much more problematic, since we don't have showers there. I may have to talk to the facilities folks and try to figure something out. Maybe the office next door has something?

But the important thing is getting back on track, work-wise. This current assignment is a dead-end, from a career perspective. And that has made me very aware and self-conscious of how much I have neglected my professional development. I've been on the job for five years - if I had been on the ball, I could have gotten my master's through distance learning, and my PE license. I apologize for the crude language, but in the words of my old sailing coach Karl, "why don't you unfuck that?" So I've started getting the information to put together my PE package, and after that, I may just roll right back into school. Better late than never.

And if you're looking for inspiration to get a grad degree in naval architecture or marine engineering, you could do worse than the SY Maltese Falcon. Now, I've already loved enough ships for a lifetime - nothing will ever replace Inferno and Eagle in my affections. But this ship is magnificent. I couldn't care less about the luxury cabins and dining rooms. But one person can sail her through a tack in less than 2 minutes. I missed stays enough times on Eagle to appreciate how amazing that is. Even so, the best part for me is figuring out the compromises of this Dynarig concept - can't fan the yards, or adjust the tilt, she seems to heel a lot, etc.

[photo courtesy www.charterworld.com]

Underway is the Only Way

After many busy weekends, I finally got Betty back on the water on Saturday. So, of course, the air was light and fluky. I had hoped to sail past the Alexandria Waterfront Festival, but there simply was not enough breeze to get there. In 4 hours of sailing out of Gravely Point, I didn't get farther than the south end of National Airport. In fact, I had to use the pedal drive for most of the the return leg. Even so, any day on the water is good. I've been getting a lot of compliment on Betty, usually at the dock. But on Saturday I was overtaken by a Catalina 25, and then a ski-doo, and all the occupants were appreciative. "Where can I get one of those?"

I hoped to go sailing again on Sunday, but there was even less breeze. I did get a chance to go out to brunch with Sarah, Steph & Aaron. We went to The Evening Star Cafe, and it was excellent as always. I was pleased to hear Sarah liked it, since she & Paul have been looking for a place to succeed their neighborhood brunch spot back in New Orleans.

Not sailing worked out well, since it forced me to do something productive with my day. Specifically, clean up my bike after riding in the rain last week. It was a mess, but now it rides like a dream. Very satisfying work, too - stripping the bike down, cleaning, re-greasing bearings and chains.

And the cherry on top was free cake. Yes, free cake. Steph had made some, but she and Aaron are both out of town, so I did them a favor and took the cake off their hands. Chocolate. But you must have ice cream to go with you chocolate cake. None at the house, and I didn't feel like going to the store just for ice cream. So with Can-Do American spirit and frontier-style ingenuity, I made my own. Just like Davey Crockett.

• 1 Gallon ziploc bag
• 1 quart ziploc bag
• Ice cubes (about 2 trays)
• 6 teaspoons Salt (ideally rock salt)
• 1/2 cup Half&Half or light cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Fill the large bag with the ice and salt. Place the rest of the ingredients in the small bag and seal it. Seal the smaller bag inside the larger bag, surrounded by the salt and ice. Now shake it all for 5-10 minutes. Then remove the smaller bag from the larger, then open the smaller and eat the ice cream inside.

On the Water

After much thought and calculation, I finally caved in on Saturday and bought a new boat down in Woodbridge at Backyard Boats. Specifically, a sailing trimaran kayak, a red Hobie Adventure Island. My first boat was a Hobie 16, Inferno, and I miss her a great deal. This new boat, Betty, may be even better. I can use her as a normal kayak, as a nifty pedal kayak using the Mirage Drive, as a sailboat, or switch between all three on the water. I had her home by noon on Saturday, and was sailing at 3:00. I made it out again on Sunday. It was light to moderate air both days, and she still clips along pretty well. I made it from Gravelly Point to Georgetown and back on Sunday, and that was in the really fluky breeze north of the bridges.

I'm already extremely pleased with her. Like most multihulls, she doesn't point especially high, but better than I expected. She motors on reaches, and does reasonably well downwind. And I can't say enough about the flexibility of the design. With the paddle and pedal options, she makes for a forgiving platform for novice sailors - you can power through your mistakes. But the sail is big enough for the displacement that she performs to satisfy those with more experience. You can even use the pedals to improve her sailing - accelerating faster out of tacks so you don't lose as much going to windward, or increasing speed to shift the apparent wind to turn a downwind run into a reach.

The details are well thought out and executed, for the most part. The roller furling on the mast is quick and easy. Swinging the amas (sidehulls) in and out on the water is also quite easy. Assembly and derigging ashore takes only a few minutes, and requires no tools. And there is an insane amount of storage space in hull.

There are a few small nitpicks. The rudder control is often awkward to use, especially at higher speeds; it is mounted flush, and would be much easier to handle if you could get your hand all the way around it. A boom would improve downwind performance, but would also create a headknocker hazard. Perhaps barber-haulers on the amas would help keep main tack down when running with the wind. And the main hull (vaka) is essentially a normal kayak hull with crossbars (akas) mounted on top. Maybe it will plane at higher speeds, but planing hull might improve performance.

Regardless, for me this is a great pickup. This is my third sailboat, following Inferno (a catamaran) and Pegasus (a monohull Luger 16). In order to top Betty, I'd have to get a sailing hydrofoil for my next boat.

[Images courtesy Hobie and Google Earth]

Down with the sickness

Yesterday, I took my first sick day in a long time. I woke up with a splitting migraine and nausea at about 0300. I held out until my normal "start work" time, 0700. At that point, I still felt awful, so I said screw it.

I feel fine, now. I did nothing all day, so I'm actually glad to be back on the job. And if I skip Half Day Friday this week, it will only cost me 4 of my Personal Time Off (PTO) hours. Wheeee.

It was a pretty damn good weekend, before I got sick. I went out for lunch on Friday with Sarah, Grant, and Jane. I think we spent most of the time being geeks. Sarah is a big fan of geeking out, it seems. Or maybe she's just like that around Jane and I ... because we're such geeks. We did spend most of our time sharing an office talking about monkeys hooked up to robot arms.

Saturday night, Sarah & Paul invited Jane, Megan and I over for dinner. Enchiladas! And surprisingly good store-bought eggnog. The bourbon may have helped. It was a really enjoyable, laid-back night. We even came up with nicknames for people in our offices: Timeburglar, Minivan, Skunk Nut.

Sunday, it was out for brunch with Steph & Aaron. While they were waiting for me, two other USCGA types happened by, including Morgan G., who was my AIM cadre AND my first Offshore sailing team crew chief. I was with him on Arctic Tern, the "racing" Luders yawl crewed entirely by freshman (save 1/c Morgan and 3/c Josh). I have very fond memories of that boat. It was a pig, and we always finished DFL (dead f***ing last). Good times.