Woodwork

Dave has been working on making a rudder for Craig's Abaco Dinghy Winer Malone. It has been laminated together and today he, Ted, and Craig, cut it out, using a pattern from another dinghy.

Craig has really been working hard on getting his boat ready to launch. Being the manager here at the marina helps, of course. He is in the final stages of brightwork...sanding and varnishing the trim.

Before all the work was started on this boat several years ago:

Now:

It certainly has come a long way. Now the mast and boom need to be rigged and the tiller made. Craig is going to be so excited when Winer Malone is sailing in the fleet!

Knockdown!

It was a blustery day to be racing cruising boats yesterday, but Team Sunrise was tenacious. The wind kept building and at one point a gust of 24 knots hit the boat setting the lower rail into the water, which started filling the cockpit. Everyone scrambled to get to the high side and then drain the water. This is what they looked like going to windward normally, and then the knockdown happened.

Talk about an exciting, but very tiring day! Plus the new sails look fantastic.

It was all worth it since they came back with another 2nd place glass. 

Thanks again Will and Catherine for the great photos.

Concert For A Cause

Here in Hope Town there is a local rock band that has concerts to benefit different causes. This group consists of locals, second home owners, and boaters, and they just like getting together to play and perform. The concerts are free, but whichever charity they benefit, passes around baskets for donations. They really are quite good and this works well, because they play to a packed house each time. Plus the Hope Town Inn and Marina that hosts the events, makes out well with people buying food and drink. It's a win-win situation.

A couple of days ago Jib Sea Sol held a benefit for Hope Town Junior Sailing to help pay the expenses of sending the kids and coaches to the qualifying regattas in Nassau and Freeport. Whoever qualifies goes on to the Opti North American Nationals being held in Nassau and this is a really big deal for everyone involved.

Even one of the coaches, Branden, used to be junior sailor and has won all sorts of regattas and is now also one of the instructors. I guess we've been here too many years (or are getting old 😉), because we remember him as a little kid.

We are starting to get to know several of the other kids since they have been racing in the HTSC dinghy races, which also involves the Optimist prams that they will be racing in at the Nassau regattas. I always make sure I bring cookies to the awards afterwards, and last time I brought and reheated a whole bunch of leftover baked ziti and they were ecstatic. One of the guys hugged me. Poor kids had to sail right through lunchtime.

What a fun afternoon and for a great cause. Even Chris Farren of Combustion Music Festival fame made a guest appearance to sing with the band. As Jib Sea Sol's motto goes, "Rock on!"

Picture Perfect

After Dave and Richard fixed Suja's centerboard, the tide had gone out, so we had to leave the sailboat tied up overnight. Early yesterday morning, we went to move the boat at high tide. When we arrived in the skiff, we knew we had to go back to get the camera...

Centerboard Snarls

For the second time this season, Suja's centerboard had issues when we tried to go sailing. The first time I noticed that the line that pulls the centerboard down was frayed so bad that only one thread was holding it on. Dave fixed that here at the marina dock, by jumping in the water and having Will assist him in the cockpit, all before the boat could sink. A couple of days ago while we were sailing out of the harbor, we ran aground on a shallow spot and the centerboard kicked up, giving it slack and making the line get caught and snarled around the board itself. Then it wouldn't go back down or up with either line (one pulls it up, the other pulls it down). Luckily we made it back to the sailing club beach and I was thrilled when the board seemed to pull up as we hit the sand. Boy, was I wrong! It went up so easy because that line broke. This morning, Dave brought Suja over to the deep water of the pond and jumped in to try and repeat the process he did before, when the other line needed replacing.

This time he had the expertise of Richard Woods, who he races Sunfish with, and with Richard building his own catamarans, he has plenty of experience. The two guys worked great together, but unfortunately they could not keep the line from getting snarled again when raising and lowering the board.

They ended up bringing the boat over to the tiny lighthouse beach and flipping it on its side for better access. They replaced both lines and everything appears to be working smoothly.

I guess either we better not run aground again or be sure to lift the centerboard up before hitting bottom, so no more snarls occur. I have to admit that was my job. Oops!

Founder's Cup

Yes, we are back to sailing and racing and Sunrise won the Founder's Cup! This race was postponed a few times due to too much wind, and then today the race committee almost canceled due to not enough wind. They decided to give it a shot and the breeze held up just fine. In fact the crew said it was the best race this season...and the results proved it.

It was so calm that I took the skiff out to the race course and then waited in the shallows for the guys to come back, so they could be towed back to the dock (I got to watch a couple of big sharks while waiting!). The wind was light and coming right from the direction they needed to go, so it would have been challenging getting back to the dock in the pond. I picked up Dave when they took the sails down and we towed the boat to the entrance of the pond. The tide was low so they had to lean the boat way over to make it over the rock shoal at the entrance. I jumped on board to help and we scooted right over the bar without the keel hitting the bottom.

At the awards party when the guys found out they won by just 3 seconds after the handicaps were tallied, Dave thought it was definitely time for a drink.

Finally, after several 2nd and 3rd place finishes, they weren't a bridesmaid, they were the 'bride'! 😉

Picturesque

What a gorgeous day today is. The sun is shining, the wind is calm, the harbor and marina are full, and the fuel tanker is here.

Now we are off to Lubbers Quarters, an island off Tilloo Cut, where the current HTSC Commodore is having a luncheon for the executive committee. We had to host this when Dave was Commodore, so it will be fun to just go and not worry about all the prep.

Enjoy your day!