I got this photo from our friends on Synergy that they took on their camera phone- of us in the mixed couples race working against a local J-29 that is extremely competative all along the east coast. They corrected over us because of the difference of our starting times, but we had kept in front of them for about 4 miles or so and this shot was us finishing in front of them. Just a cool thing to let us know that we are working in the right direction, and I'm guessing he didn't have 60 gallons of water or his grill on board:^) Not often you get a photo of your boat in front of this one at a finish... Upcoming projects and events are getting scheduled: First, I'm upgrading the Alternator with a Balmar 621 series 80 amp and a 3 stage regulator to help our new batteries out. Along with that is the replacement of the tachometer that hasn't worked for a while.We're going to do the Jack-Ass Regatta fun race on Wed (13th), then the Capt (my wife) is planning to race Sequoia in the club's annual fall women's series that next weekend (getting either a short haul bottom clean or a nice dive cleaning for this event), then we're going to Oxford to cheer on the above J-29 at their North American Championships http://www.j29class.net/index.htm.I've gotten some nice compliments lately about this site, I appreciate it.
Our sailing club runs a "mixed couples" fun race every year where you can have one man and one woman crew. It allows for cruisers to mingle with racers and all have a good time. This year was no exception. It was a nice spinnaker run all the way up the 10 mile course. After which everyone rafted to Sequoia (15 boats on our anchor!) for race results and cocktails, then broke up into smaller rafts for the evening or some of the participants went home. Lots of fun, and one of the other racers actually got some Sequoia spinnaker shots... Other photo is of the "super raft". Next planned activity is the Wednesday "Jack-Ass" race where we all motor around and the best theme/costumes or
sailing show of skill. We placed 3rd last year with a full compliment of pirates and rum, 1st place won by sailing backwards down the course with their spinnaker full behind the boat. We have something special planned this year to compliment the pirate theme, let's just hope it works!Then a week or so after that, we'll be headed off to be spectators for the J-29 North American Championships in Oxford, MD where we'll cheer on our friends on Rhumb Punch and any other club members who participate.
We discovered a few more minor issues during the Governor's Cup- Batteries being prime among them... If you go back to the archives from January, I did some battery maintenance. Turns out it just prolonged the inevitable... The house bank bit the dust on the gov cup. So, a few "small boat units" later, the house bank is now 2 gel group 27's. When we do the new high output alternator, there will probably be a 3rd added, but this is good for now.The other issue we had was the loss of our tack line on the spinnaker- it just blew up in the 25 kts of breeze. So I replaced that this week with 7/16ths Sta-set X. This is the same stuff they're using on 45 Ft cruisers for halyards, so I figure it will hold up.Another of the fun races we do is this weekend-- the local club has a "mixed couples" race up the Patuxant River open to cruisers and racers alike. Should be a good time: lots of beer and rum and a few grills running.Upcoming events include Annapolis Race Week on the 36.7
I have said before (and I'll say it again), we sail Sequoia primarily as a performance cruiser. Lots of furniture, usually full water tanks and 60 gallons of fuel. But every once in a while, we take her out racing. This year's Governor's Cup 70 mile race was one of those. Neither of the boats that we race on were doing Gov cup this year, so we threw together a top notch crew and did the race.Wind was supposed to be really light out of the north, so we provisioned to be out there for a while. Turns out there was a small craft advisory, winds blowing up to 25 knots. Sequoia hit a new speed record with us on board at 10.5 knots and finished the race in 11 hrs 7 minutes. We ended up 19th out of 28 in our class, and midfleet overall PHRF. We felt good about it, safe the whole night, and always in control. Thanks to the super crew for great work!
July 28-30 we went to Oxford, MD with Synergy, Noon Somewhere, and Little Lattitudes. Getting there was a broad reach with winds blowing 18-20, then a nice thunderstorm blew in. Noon Somewhere saw winds approaching 50 knots during the storm.We had a nice weekend, went to Lattitude 38 for dinner Saturday night and was surprised to meet the crew from Motu Iti! They joined us for dinner and drinks. Also got to try out the Sea Nettle Net pool that our little cruising flotilla has purchased as a group. Wow- it saved the weekend! Good Times. Total distance 54 nautical miles.
Just a side note away from Sequoia... In July I went to New York Yacht Club Race Week in Newport, RI to race on a Beneteau 36.7 for the class North American Championships. The sailing was fantastic, even though the class insists on playing bumper boats at full speed. Boat I was on placed 7th overall, with a bullet on the first day. That's why I've been away for a while... Boat I race on is sail #93266
