Arrived in Berkeley!

On the truck in Berkeley

Finally the boat made it to the West Coast! We got a little bit in a snow storm in Nebraska and Wyoming, so the exterior is pretty dirty now. Everything else seems fine, the mast was nicely wrapped and there is just one minor scratch that needs to be fixed. Unfortunately the Norwalk boat yard did a lousy job cleaning the bottom, so there were a bunch of barnacles left. Consequently, the California border inspection quarantined the boat and I need to get it re-inspected before it goes into the water. Since Constance needs a new bottom paint job anyways, that shouldn't be a big deal, it just going to cost me some time to get it released I guess. 

Getting off the truck

 

One more week!

In the waters of the Long Island Sound. Sailed the boat to Norwalk Cove today to get the mast pulled and the boat prepped for shipping. Kind of sad to say goodbye to my friends at Cedar Point..

At the dock in Norwalk Cove

Going West!

Constance is going to start a new life at the West Coast! Decided to take the boat over to California with us. There sure aren't many Tartan 34s around over there so we'll be some exotic animal I guess. First week of November is the tentative pull out date and then it's a 4day journey on the back of a flatbed truck all the way across the continent. I wish I could have sailed her around but I just couldn't get the time off between jobs, unfortunately. And to be honest I was a little scared to sail through the Caribbean during hurricane season. Another time..

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