random thoughts from ABIGAIL #76 on Wednesday Aug. 20th race… Our Mainsail Trimmer saw it this way… 20 minutes before the start, we sailed up the east side of the beat, on port tack, and saw strengthening breeze further north - the port tack off the line looked good then, but 10 minutes later, we were [...]
We have been struggling to keep our upwind height and speed this season and we had finally come to the conclusion that our main sail (after serving us for way too many years) had to be retired. So this was the night to make the debut of the new crispy North main sail complete with Chuck [...]
ALOHA RACES 1-3 August 9 Suuny skies, 8 knots from the south, music from the Newport Jazz Fest to serenade us as we ran down from Hammersmith in a gentle flood, seven boats, tight racing, a super committee, and a relaxed, non-spinnaker format which means you can bring newbies along for a taste of classic [...]
Summer Series First Race Report from Raven (201) We got a great start a little down from the boat and were able to tack to the right in the sea breeze pretty much when we wanted...into a 20-degree header and way less pressure. After a long while plodding across to the right, hoping for breeze and [...]
Race 4 At 4pm it was hot with no breeze. Off the porch in t-shirts and shorts was the call. Would we have yet another cancellation? As we realized nobody brought along foul-weather gear, we chuckled about the time last year (or the year before) we paddled off the mooring in similar conditions, but was hit [...]
Shields race #3, May 28, 2008 Sailflow’s predicition was absolutely right. They had predicted that the northwest breeze would turn around in the mid afternoon, and it did. The race committee selected course 81 (“Q” off of Fort Wetherall) and “8” often referred to as the Mallory or Shoemaker mark.) Although the race committee had problems [...]
Race 2 Report: On 107, we hit the water early on Wednesday and had time to sail up to the Dumplings and back in the solid 16 to 18 knot breeze with higher gusts. The tide was flooding, but not too intensely; still, it seemed that the conventional wisdom of heading for Jamestown to get out [...]
Thank you, Narragansett Bay, for a wonderful introduction to the 2008 Shields Wednesday Night Series. What better way to start racing than a shifty southerly, flat water and loads of tide. We counted around 15 boats for the first week, ably run by Dr. Robin Wallace, who was put to the test from the get go. [...]
Email the webmaster here, and we will post your contact info if you are looking for a boat to sail on, or need crew to fill out your boat. As the season progresses, you can come to the blog and click on the category on the right "boats or crew wanted" and it will filter down [...]