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.

Wed night race 07132011

What a race! Had our friend Roberto onboard helping with the lines and taking some great shots. The evening started out easy and we were practicing poling out the jib with our heavy spinnaker pole. As soon as the RC was ready to start, a big black cloud showed up over the Connecticut shore. And sure enough the wind picked up, first a little, then quite a bit until we were somewhat overpowered with the overlapping jib. No time to change with 1min to go! So we went screaming down the line, of course over early and barely avoiding other boats. Sure enough the start was cancelled but in the howling wind some boats took off and were never to be seen again. Meanwhile we had a solid 30kn in the starting area with white caps all over the place.  So we rolled up the jib and went into the next start half way furled. Even then we got heeled over in the gusts like never before. After the first mark the wind subsided and we went full sails again. The rest of the race was very uneventful, and yes, we finished, and not even last!

Tacking before the start

Start postponed

Division3 start

Looking at the fleet from behind

Wed night fleet returning to port