2005 Sailing Digest

On this page, I will detail, to an extent, a sort of daily vessel log, including brief outings, maintenance, and short sailing descriptions. This is a way to keep track of my sailing and maintenance days, in a format that will be easy to maintain and read.  From time to time, as conditions dictate, I will continue to post more detailed sailing and cruising logs.

All times listed in the entries are approximate.

Newest entries are at the top of the page. 

Continue to July Entries>

I headed out to add ice to the icebox and load a few things, and just generally check on the boat, since I hadn't been down in several days.

A beautiful sail.  The wind came up early, just before 1000, and built throughout the morning.  I had a pleasant sail down to Portland Harbor, checking out Ocean Planet on her mooring.  In the harbor, the winds were strengthening and funneling down the channel, and on my return--an excellent power reach--Glissando steamed forward at 6.9 knots. 

I reached pleasantly past Diamond and Cow Islands (as usual), and around the northerly tip of Clapboard.  The winds had really started to crank up by the time I headed in--20 knots or more.  I dropped the sails in the lee of Clapboard and motored to the mooring, where I enjoyed lunch before heading ashore.

June 13, 2005 | Maintenance and Sail
On board:  0900-1430; 7.8nm traveled

After a busy weekend and a failed sailing attempt Sunday (fog), I had to try again Monday.  It was one of those hazy, hot, and humid days--one in a fairly long string, but the weather was forecast to change overnight, for the worse (rain, showers, unsettled).  So off I went.  It was about 85 by 9 in the morning, with nary a breath of wind save for the occasional light puff from the west.

I loaded some supplies for the larder, and then took the boat to the dock for her first bath of the season--not desperately needed, thanks to all the rain we had had, but still worthwhile.  Afterwards, back on the mooring, I took care of several jobs while I waited for the wind to pick up, hopefully.  I did a little tuning on the mast, moved the boathook storage, and changed the alternator belt after I discovered the old one was badly cracked.  (How did I miss that before?)

The old belt must have been slipping somewhat, damaging it in an accelerated fashion and causing a smoking problem that I had noticed.  With the new belt installed, the alternator charged better and emitted a high-pitched whine that I hadn't heard much since the alternator was first installed several years ago.  Lesson learned:  check the belt tension more often!

Afterwards, the wind picked up slightly from the west-southwest, so I headed off for my sail--better late than never.  There were periods of sheer sailing perfection during my relatively brief sail; the wind direction was nearly perpendicular to shore, meaning that it was a reach in almost all directions.  Towards the end, the winds started gusting near 20, coupled with the beginnings of some rain showers but barely tempering the fun.  I did cut the sail a bit short, as I was apprehensive as to what the weather might do.

June 9, 2005 | Sail
On board:  0930-1400; 12.8nm traveled

I abandoned all other things I should be doing so that I could go sailing.  It was a beautiful day, with sunny skies and soft breezes.  The wind was light or nonexistent at the mooring, but I could see it right outside, so I raised the main and motored out to find the wind, which I did shortly.

The winds, to start, were around 5-10 knots, very pleasant.  I sailed down towards Portland, relaxed.  At one point, when I got up to change one line or another, the white cushion I had been using as a backrest made a break for it, and tipped itself over the low coamings and into the water.  I sailed past for a while before eventually deciding to go back for it. (The cushion is visible in the water just beneath the lazy genoa sheet here...)

I picked up the vagabond cushion without incident, making for a good man overboard drill, I suppose, and sailed on.  I had been close enough to Portland when the cushion went over that once I had turned around to  pick it up, I just continued on that course, and enjoyed the land-effect breezes, slightly more powerful, that came off Diamond and Cow Islands, and through Hussey Sound.  The cushion must have really wanted to escape, because later in the day, I noticed it was gone again.  I didn't see it go, and therefore did not attempt to return for it.  Oh well.  I wish it all the best in its quest for its fortune.

The sailing was excellent where I was.  Near the islands ringing the inner bay, the southeast wind picked up a thermal component that enhanced its strength, while in the middle of the bay the winds were minimal.  I ate an Alden 44 for lunch, dinner, and the next breakfast, as he was stuck in the lighter winds about 1/2 mile distant.  It's always fun to do this, even when it is clearly the result of different winds.  :<)

Eventually, I headed back, and ended up becalmed about a mile from the mooring, so I motored in the rest of the way.  It remained calm while I put the boat to bed and departed, extremely happy with my choice of sailing day.

June 7, 2005 | Brief Visit
On board:  1300-1315

While checking the boat from shore, I noticed the mooring lines were wrapped around the chain, so I headed out to straighten out the problem.  The new, longer, port mooring line, which drooped in the water slackly, had dropped around the ball when the wind was light and the boat was not pulling on the mooring, and now was fouled.  It was a simple matter (this time) to clear the line, but to hopefully help prevent the problem from occurring in the future I tied the second line to the main line with some small stuff, a bit further up towards the stem than where the mooring line floats ended.  I hoped this would keep the line from fouling in the same way, though fouled lines are commonplace.

June 2, 2005 | Sailing Attempt
On board:  1200-1300

Heidi and I decided to head to the boat for lunch and a sail.  It was a beautiful day at home, and had been beautiful on the water earlier in the morning.  Imagine our surprise when we discovered fog when we arrived at the boat!  It was still clear in the anchorage, so we went to the boat and ate our sandwiches, then debated whether to sail or not.  I watched the fog for a while, and it seemed very in and out, but lingering; eventually, I decided to get ready to sail, and started preparing the boat.

It was at about this time that the fog suddenly blew in with a vengeance, halting our sailing plans.  We hung out and watched for a while, but nothing changed, so after several very relaxing and fun hours on board--but without a sail--we headed home.

June 2, 2005 | Early Morning Maintenance Visit
On board:  0645-0830

Early this morning, I loaded the dinghy in the truck and drove to the boat, so that I could change out the chafed mooring pendant left over from the storm a week or two ago.  I chose early morning so that the wind would be calm, as I needed to pull my mooring ball up out of the water at least partially so that I could access the shackles beneath.

Since the yacht club's workboat had been trashed during the storm, I had to do all the work from Glissando herself, and from the dinghy.  First, I pulled the mooring pendants up as tightly as I could through the port bow roller and made the lines fast.  Then, from the dinghy, I tied a utility line to the chain beneath the mooring ball, as low as I could, and back on the boat used this new line to pull the mooring up even higher out of the water, exposing the shackles securing the pendants.  With 30' of 3/4" chain hanging beneath, this was quite a chore.

With that done, it was a fairly simple matter to undo the shackles and replace the pendant.  I ended up replacing only one pendant, the badly chafed one, as I had mistakenly bought the next size down (5/8" instead of 3/4"), and the starboard pendant was still in fine shape anyway.  Completing this maneuver, including securing new floats to the lines, took several trips back and forth between the deck and the dinghy, but eventually it was done. 

To my annoyance, I found that after I lowered the ball and chain back into the water, the thimbles for the pendants were twisted around oddly through the shackles.  I thought it might straighten itself out once the boat started pulling on the mooring when the wind came up, but didn't want to risk it staying that way, as the lines were subject to chafe around the thimbles. Therefore, I had to retie a utility line and haul the thing up again, so that I could straighten out the thimbles. 

There's a reason I pay a company to do my mooring work normally.  However, we were going away for the weekend, and I wanted the new pendants in place.  At least it was a beautiful morning, and the time on board was generally enjoyable.

Glissando, Pearson  Triton #381
www.triton381.com 

We recommend viewing this site with your screen resolution set to 1024 x 768 or larger.  Problems?  Email the webmaster.

©1999-2014 by Timothy C. Lackey.  All rights reserved.  No duplication of any portion of this website allowed without express permission.  Permission may be obtained by emailing the webmaster.