not this summer though!

Paul at the Vineyard race on Gringo!

Link here: http://blockislandrace2010.blogspot.com

Singlehanded race!

Tried out singlehanded racing last night. Totally sore today! What started out with no wind at all got actually quite breezy in the end and I had all hands full during tacks and mark roundings. Got a solid last place of course since I was slow in all of this. No matter! Proud to have handled everything else just fine, incl soft as butter docking and even winning the pin at the start!

CPYC Wed night fleet before the start

Hurricane aftermath

No problems for Constance, not even much water in the bilge. Some other boats had it worse:

Boat washed onto the seawall at Saugatuck

Last preparations

Irene will be almost a direct hit with gust up to 85mph early Sunday here.
Took the head sail down and wrapped the main tightly so we should be ok. Only worry is the storm surge. If we're 10ft over normal high tide conditions the dock will float off the pilons and it will be a big mess. Unfortunately we have a new moon and high tide will coincide with the strongest winds from the east pushing lots of water into the sound. Combined with the runoff due to heavy rains this could be a close call.

All wrapped up

Irene!

Getting the boat ready for the Hurricane. Landfall is expected around JFK airport and the eye will pass directly over of us, according to the latest predictions. Scary stuff.On the other hand this will be an interesting spectacle. I just hope everybody stays safe...

somebody has to be

last in a race. Not sure why it has to be us but those 5-10kn conditions sure don't favor Tartan34s. Today we got DFL'd on time by 15 sec. grrrrr. Bad judgement call on my part when and where the tidal current will be max combined with the inability to point when the wind is down. Oh well.