Today, the crew of Camelot fought back in a tightly run race. We had a hard day yesterday in high winds, overpowered with the whomper foresail. It whomped the grinders for sure. We came in third in the long upstream there-and-back race to Lakeway.
We changed to a smaller jib this morning. We got off the start line close to our competitors and ran a good three hour battle of tacks and jibes. At the end of the day, we came in second, which was good enough for second in our class. Not bad.
The course… -ishClose hauled. Low-flying aircraft off the starboard bow. View from the clubhouse.
Monte and I joined Mary Ann today to crew with Kurt and Kevin on S/V Camelot on day 1 of the 2021 Governor’s Cup at the Austin Yacht Club. It was a beautiful, sunny, windy day. This was a 20 mile course. Tomorrow’s will be shorter. We’re in the mix!
The J class heading for the finish line. Yeah, we foil on Lake Travis. The finish line.
On Monday I flew to Annapolis to attend this weekend’s Sailboat Show. I met up with Lori, and we had a fun 2-day trip on S/V Trident over to St Michael’s, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake. We anchored overnight and dinghied to shore with the bikes and explored the town and its maritime museum.
Trident anchored in the Miles River at St. Michaels. A lighthouse relocated to the maritime museum.
On Thursday we went to the first day of the Annapolis Sailboat Show. We toured some fine boats, got some swag, and met up with sailor friends. The weather cooperated and we had a great day.
A panorama of the show docks. You can see the copper dome of the chapel on the US Naval Academy campus on the far left of the photo.
On Friday we did boat work from sunrise to sunset. A long day of hard work, but we enjoyed dinner out downtown.
A beautiful sunrise over Chesapeake Bay.
Today we are attending some of the seminars at the boat show. More later.
We rafted up overnight with Julie and Ryan last night, grilling up dinner once they tied up to us after sunset. It was a new moon night, dark and clear.
The only other boat in the cove with us, as we enjoyed the sunset.
The temps were perfect, but no wind overnight.
Thankfully the winds came up around 10AM this morning and Monte and I enjoyed a lovely sail up to the yacht club and back.
Wow, that was fast. All of a sudden it is October 1st! We’ve been busy the last month or two.
We have happily welcomed out of town visitors, after a long COVID-induced drought of sorts. In July we enjoyed Patrick, Nga, and Nick. In September we had visits from Jake and Natalie, and then Noreen.
We enjoyed our visits with them, but somewhere in there Autumn slipped in. The high temperatures have begun dipping into the low 90s, so I guess I’ll have to brace myself for wearing pants and shoes soon.
The best way to beat the heat when guests visit is to hit the lake.
We went on a brief brewery crawl with Jake and Natalie. Outside seating, of course.
When guests are here, the gameroom actually gets used for playing games. Lots of billiards and darts played. I actually hit a double bull to win a game of darts!
We always eat well when guests are here. BBQ, TexMex, homemade pizza, and more. Julie made sushi rolls one night for Noreen, Monte and me. Delicious.
Yesterday Kurt, Kevin, Monte, and I went for a long sail on Nirvana. We went past Starnes Island and up Sandy Creek to grab dinner at Shack 512. Nice spot. And a great day!
After being out of the water for seven weeks for its bottom job, Nirvana’s packing gland had dried out a bit, and it was dripping too much. The packing gland keeps the propeller shaft cool while it is turning. So dripping too much is better than dripping too little. But, dripping too much means that we are constantly sinking a little bit, so we didn’t want to let it go too long. 🙂 We have hired out the engine maintenance on the boat in the past, but decided to do this ourselves. Finding the right tool for the job is important. These wrenches from CatalinaDirect fit the nuts exactly, are narrow enough to turn the lock nut without turning the gland nut, and have stubby handles for the cramped space in the bilge by the propeller shaft. Perfect! We tested the temperature on the shaft after motoring for a while with an infrared thermometer. Looks like a good fix.
We were on a roll, and kept going and checked the impeller on the sea water pump, which pumps water to cool the diesel engine. We’d let it go too long and one of the blades had broken off. Now to find it…
Debris in the cooling system is not good, it blocks the hoses to, and the tubes inside the heat-exchanger, which can lead to overheating. Plan A: use a shop vac to try to suck the broken vane out of the hose between the water pump and the heat-exchanger. Plan B: open the inlet side of the heat-exchanger, which requires removing the alternator. Thankfully, Plan A worked. The entire blade was retrieved. After a new impeller, o-ring, and lubricant, it was all set to go.
We fired up the engine and left the dock for a 30 minute test run to make sure things looked good. And they did.
Then we decided to sail upriver 30 miles to anchor overnight and watch for some Perseid meteors a little farther away from the city lights. We saw a dozen or so.
We had a great sail up and back on Tuesday and Wednesday. And, wow, is Nirvana in top shape with her new bottom job. We hit 7.7 knots more than once.
I need to get back in the groove and post more frequently. Here’s a quick recap of July.
Pat, Nga, and Nicky visited us for a week. We split our time between being tourists and lake bums. We walked around the University of Texas campus one afternoon.
We’ve spent much time on the boat, enjoying the lake with friends. We rafted up overnight with Kurt & Kevin, and Brett one weekend. It’s nice to be on the hook with a breeze blowing through the boat.
Doray dropped of some eggs from her chicken coop. I love the varied colors.
When Pat and Nga were visiting, I bought a fiddle-leaf fig plant. I asked Nga to pick it out, and she selected a good one. It’s already putting out new leaves.
I’m a big fan of, and loyal to, brands that have outstanding customer service. I’ll give a shout out to Taylor Made, maker of marine products, including inflatable boat fenders. Most of their fenders are covered by a lifetime warranty. I’ve never had need to use the warranty before, but one of the Big B fenders I ordered in 2014 for Nirvana burst recently. I gave them a quick call and they said it was indeed covered by the warranty. I simply had to send them an email with several photos of the damaged fender, and a replacement fender will be on the way to us.
I suppose it depends on how you look at it. Today is July 1st, and you can either consider that the year is half over, or there is an entire half a year left. I will take the latter view. Time does fly by, but I’m trying to enjoy the present and look forward to the future.
We’ve been busy. Working on house projects, boat projects, yard work, getting out and enjoying the lake, and, thankfully, finally spending time with friends face to face again.
The dishwasher conked out, and we installed the new one ourselves, as the first available installation appointment was weeks out. No thank you. AND, it works!
We’re enjoying the boat. The lake and our favorite coves are busy and packed with boats, but we’ve figured out that if we head out to anchor right before sunset, the majority of people have headed home. So, we have plenty of room to anchor and enjoy a peaceful sunset.
Monte’s below watching golf as I motor us over to Arky North.
I got together with friends to celebrate Laura’s birthday in Lori’s new home. Getting this up close and personal with people outside my bubble a year ago was unthinkable. I’m glad we are where we are now. We played some fun new games that Tina introduced us to. This is an action shot from “Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza,” a fun, silly, fast-paced game. I recommend it if you’re looking for a fun game to play with a bunch of your vaccinated friends. 🙂
Last week was busy. We rescued Nirvana from the boatyard, brought her home, and I spent the next few days schlepping 100 lb batteries up and down the ramp, and Monte made sure they worked. The old ones lasted 5-6 years. The new ones will hopefully perform similarly.
Out with the old. One starter battery and two house batteries. The big ones weigh 100 Lbs each. She’s back home and shiny!
We got everything installed in time to race the beer-can regatta on her with Kurt and Kevin and she flew with her new bottom. We think she’s at least a knot faster.
Then over the weekend we anchored in the cove for a sunset grilled dinner. Nice. Very nice. We had our annual first jump in the lake, finally, a week or so past the usual Memorial Day dip. It was fantastic.
Patience, and a really big tractor. That’s what it took to finally re-launch our boat today, after 7 weeks on the hard for new barrier coat, new bottom paint, new cutlass bearing, new zincs, and a hull wax and polish.
Our batteries were dead after 7 weeks without charge, but we knew they were in need of replacement anyway. Starter battery and one of two house batteries are goners. A jump at the dock got the engine started. We are back in our slip now. Monte has the charger on the boat working on the one remaining battery to keep it charged, which is fortunate, because the packing gland is leaking pretty vigorously right now, as it had dried out. So we really need the bilge pump to be working off the one battery. We’ll give it a few days and hopefully the packing will swell back up after being in the water. We will replace all three batteries, too. So, we have some work left to do to get her ready for summer, but it’s very nice to have her back. As Keeto would say, “She’s so preeetty.”
We moved Trident to her slip Friday, just an hour or two before a hellacious storm front moved through. We were rocking and rolling at night, but we were safely tied up in the marina. It’s been raining here ever since.
We were so fortunate with the weather window that we had for the prior 2 weeks. We really had no crazy weather to speak of while we were on the move. Thanks mom! 🙂
We walked around in the rain on Saturday just because it was the only day I had to explore the town. We visited a couple art galleries and wine bars and uber-ed home, falling asleep while watching Master and Commander for the millionth time.
Nibblies!
Today is Sunday, and I’m flying home. Happy to close the book on another adventure with my sailing sister. I’m looking forward to spending a new summer on Nirvana with Monte.
We had a short day on Thursday, arriving in Annapolis around 12:30PM. The city has a mooring field in front of the US Naval Academy, and we grabbed one of the balls for the night. Mission accomplished – or nearly. Tomorrow we will move Trident into a slip in a marina. Lori will keep the boat here until November.
Annapolis mooring field
Annapolis is called the sailing capital of the United States, and they aren’t kidding. Lots of sailboats here of all shapes and sizes. We watched the J boat fleets head out into the harbor for a regatta.
J-boat races
This is Easterner, built in 1958, and competed in the America’s Cup Defender series in 1958, 1962, and 1964. That mahogany hull is beautiful.
Harbor cruise on a schooner…
We took a water taxi to the city dock and walked around the quaint downtown, then enjoyed dinner on-board.
Sheila365 