Swallow Boats Burgee

I finally was able to set up and fly my Swallow Boats burgee. I tied in onto the starboard shroud.

Sunday Sail

Out with Kevin 8/4/2103. Nice day at 72 degrees and consistent wind around 8 mph. Stats for the day - out for about 4 hours. Covered 15nm at an average of 4.2 knots. Top speed of 6.4 knots. Had a fun encounter with a pod of dolphins that were feeding. Took a video that is a little jumpy as I was steering and trying to take pictures also. Ended up Hove to with the dolphins all around us. Jumping and thrashing. It was quite a show. Just a few long tacks and a nice relaxing sail. Good to be back out on the boat again after work and weather delays!

I am experiencing difficulties uploading the map of the track and the dolphin video. I will upload as I am able to resolve the issues.

Here is the Dolphin video I posted to You Tube :-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayntB1vzFik

Fog!

Fog warnings Saturday and Sunday kept me off the water this weekend. Low clouds until around 1pm. Then some sun. Still, a little dodgy for me to go out in though.

Mission Bay with the Potters, June 2013.

Good wind around 10 knots. Launched from south shores. Motored to sail bay. Some great tacks with good speed. Max speed 6.1 knots. Out for 4 hours. Met up with the Potters for a BBQ. Beached the boat and had the BBQ on the shore. Nice event with good people. Some fun getting back to the dock. I had some bad gas, I topped off the outboard with and it would not start up to get off the beach. Had Frank hold the boat and point the bow out and I rowed past the moored boats then sailed on Jib and Mizzen out of the basin. The outboard started up as I came to the bridges, thank goodness, and it ran roughly to the dock. I removed the gas and all should be well now. I have not had many issues with the outboard and it has started

on first pull most times. Must be the fun of boating!

Overcast skies

 Low cloud also made it hazy. Wind was light. Sailed out of Oceanside. Played with just Jib and Mizzen for a while then headed in to pick up Wayne. Nice time sailing with Wayne. It's the second time out on the boat for Wayne. Wind a little stronger today then last time. Gave him the tiller and he managed it well. Headed north up past camp Pendleton then back to Oceanside pier a few time. Then met the wives for dinner at the Jolly Rodger. Nice end to the day.
6/1/13. Out for 4 1/2 hours. 13 miles. Ave 4.3. Top 6.1, which must have been surfing down a wave?

Nice, consistent wind 10+ mph.

Sailed out of Oceanside, 5/25/13. With Kevin. Fun sail. Good wind all day. Nice tack down past the Carlsbad power plant and back. Good speed out and back. Top speed 7.1 knots. Distance 13 miles. Out for 3 1/4 hours. Several stretches at 6 knots plus in gusts. Exciting sail. Fun time with Kevin on the boat.
 A couple of fun video's posted to You Tube of Kevin and I enjoying our day on the water.
What's up with those hats! LOL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETWKLmHkkTA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8YursWNZuw

Here is the track for my most recent sail. The blue track is for the Saturday 5.25.13 sail with Kevin.

Fun wind out of Oceanside.

Great consistent winds Sunday, May 19th. Consistent at around 9 or 10 with gusts up to 18 or 20. Sailed  out of Oceanside with Howard. First time for him out on my new boat. Sailed down to the Carlsbad power station then back up past the harbor before coming in. Cool sail. Top speed of 6.5 knots. It seemed like we averaged between 4.5 and 5.5 for most of the day. Out for four hours. The track on my gps I messed up, so no accurate number for distance. Waves felt like they were around 6 feet or so. I know when we were running beside a Ranger 26 sailboat, we were at the top and they were in the trough of the wave, it felt like I was on the second floor while they were in the basement! A really cool sight off of the Oceanside pier was a pod of dolphins. It appeared to have about 50 in the pod. We had a fun time playing with them and them riding the compression wave off our bow. On our way back, we ran into a couple off the breakwater that also played around the boat for a few minutes. A cool time, enjoying the dolphins. Nice sailing day.

Last two weeks - no sailing

No sailing the past two weeks. Raining one weekend and fog this weekend. I wanted to go out around 11 am Sunday. But, looking out over the ocean, the fog was sticking to the coast line. The day turned out to be hot and gorgeous. Fog did finally burn off around 1.30/2pm. So a little late for me to go out. Still nice swim in the pool and lazy day sun bathing.

Jib and Mizzen sailing

Fun sail out of Chula Vista with the Potter group Saturday. Kevin also sailed with us. Great wind. Blowing over 20 initially then gusting to 20. I filled the ballast tanks. I sailed/beat up to the bridge under jib and mizzen in strong winds. Nice chance to learn more about how to sail the boat under real conditions. The boat sailed well and averaged about 4 knots on the jib/mizzen.
   Once at the bridge, I hoisted the full main and sailed up and down at speeds 6 knots plus. Exciting. I felt under control and safe at all times. The ballast does make a difference.
   I was surprised at my top recorded speed of 6.5 knots while carrying the ballast. Great performance. I had many tacks where 6 knots was the norm. Beating into the wind along side El Pedito with Kevin, we ran at 5.8 - 6.3 knots, until he tacked. I had a great broad reach across to two of the Potters by the bridge at over 6 knots also.

Out for a little over 3.5 hours. Top speed 6.5 knots. Average 3.9 knots. 12 miles sailed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD39cnrjfxw

Fun to see how quickly I closed on the two potters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7707s6tLDc

Full sails and good speed

Out of Oceanside 4/20/2013. Finally was able to get back on the water. Had a great sail. Perfect weather. Wind about 10 knots and speed around 5 knots. 3.8 knot average for the 3 hours I was out.
A little excitement about a quarter of a mile off shore, a grey whale surfaced to breath about 30 feet in front of me, heading towards me! I changed direction quickly and was glad we did not collide. It must have swam underneath me. It looked massive and I was in no doubt as to who would be in trouble if we collided. Enjoyed the sail. Took a few videos and posted them to you tube. The wind blew evenly so the sailing was nice. Constant wind and good speed.
Here is one of the videos from today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQU6r8VA0oI

No sailing

No sailing the past four week. Had a bad cold. May have even been the flu. Just felt like c****p and had no energy. Feeling better now. Looking forward to the Chula Vista event with the Potters. Should be fun.

Wild waves and good wind

Sail out of Oceanside, 3/10/2013, with Kevin. Winds about 8 knots as we raised the sail in the basin and headed out. I filled the balast while in the basin so we could carry full sail and not reef as the wind was expected to fill in with gusts over 15. The wave action was "interesting". Swells from one direction and wind waves from a different one. Made the water a little like a washing machine! Going down the swell I would have to fight to keep course. The winds did fill in felt like over 20?, and were good. If the water was not so choppy, it would have been a great sail. Still, good experience in choppy water. I did discover that I really do not like this kind of chop. Had a few missed tacks where I ended up in irons. I was not keeping the tiller over long enough to make the tack. Fixed that with Kevin's help and all was well. Top speed 7 knots and a little over 9 Nmiles travelled.

Sunday March 3rd, 2013 - Oceanside sail

Well, nice weather warming up after a few cold days. Decided to try a sail out of Oceanside. The forecast called for 10 knot winds. They did not appear. I launched, rigged the sails and motored out to the harbor basin. Played with the Lido sail boat club and then headed out past the breakwater. The wind was out of the NNE at around 4 knots. The wind died after approximately 30 mins out on the ocean. Motored back to the basin and floated around enjoying the sun. Still no wind after an hour so headed in for the day.

More Havasu photo's. Fun on the water.

Tried, but could not catch me 8>)

Havasu Photo's 2013

Here is a photo from the long distance race batteling with a Vangard 23, Pretty boat.

Making the first mark. It was close going around. Closer than I was comfortable with.

In the middle of the pack trying to stay out of trouble and traffic

Here is my track from the short race on Friday

Oceanside sail 2/23/2013

Nice sail out of Oceanside today. Light winds, under 10 knots. Sailed at an average of 3 knots or so. Travelled a little over 5 Nmiles. Out with Bill Shultz today. An experienced sailor and a pleasure to sail with. He is interested in buying a Swallow Boat. So, if he does buy one, it will be nice to have another boat locally, (LA area), I can sail with.

Home again.

Left Havasu early on Saturday. Drive back took a little over 7 hours at 55mph. I was a little concerned about the agricultural check at the California border. Lake Havasu has zebra mussels that are an invasive species and California is trying to keep them out. I emptied the ballast and kept the access open to help dry out the ballast tank. I felt under the water line, once the boat was on the trailer. I could not feel anything, but you never know. My fears were unfounded, the officer took a look at the boat, felt under the water line, as I had, and waved us through. I arrived home in time to wash down the boat before putting into the storage area. I had a fun time in Havasu. Learned a lot about sailing the boat and my sailing skills! The seminars were also informative. I really enjoyed the seminar on GPS from Garmin. Added a few tricks for me. The cold water survival seminar was also very informative. I just hope I never have to use this information!

2/15/2013 Friday sail, Lake Havasu.

Nice wind again today. The forecast was for 25+ winds. I put in two reefs and filled the ballasts! Yesterdays sail made me tentative about the wind. Denny of the Potters group joined me for the sail. Always nice sailing with Denny. The event today is a short distance race. Well I was not really racing, just following along. It turned out that the two reefs were not needed. We shook out the reefs for a full sail just before the second mark. We were at the tail end of the fleet. Once the main felt the wind, we quickly started to make up ground. Caught up and passed the two Monty’s in front of us. Sailed across the wind then downwind to the third mark. Rounded the mark and tacked back up to the finish line. Passing a few more boats on the way. A nice finish to the sail. Good wind and fun sailing.

2/14/2013 Thursday sail Lake Havasu

Good wind today. Sailed to the south end of the lake with Martin, both in our own boats. Great downwind sail, south at over 5 knots. Beating back into the wind was a slog. The wind increased to the point that I was over powered with the full main out. I had to spill wind like crazy, out of the main and have just the jib and mizzen do the work. It was an exhausting sail. No ballast meant that I was at the limit and uncomfortable. I had to really concentrate to keep the boat level in the wind gusts. Still, it was good experience for me. Added to my sailing skills!!!

Long Distance Race, Wednesday Sail 2/13/13, Lake Havasu

Long Distance race event today at the Lake Havasu Pocket Cruisers event. I started off with flotilla B. Which was for the less serious racers? The start was hectic with over 80 boats starting off in flotilla B. I waited for them to sort themselves out and get started, before I ventured up to the start line. There was a lot of close sailing and jockeying for position at the start line and it was just sailing too close for me. Several, what I thought, were close passes. Some did not even see each other until the last minute and changed course to avoid contact. The weather report called for winds gusting over 25mph. I put in a reef to be safe. It turned out that the wind was mild, with one leg of the race downwind in about 4 mph winds. I lost a lot of time on this leg of the race. I did not need the reef. But, better safe when sailing, so no regrets on the reef. We sailed a little over 14 miles. Looking at the race results, it looks like I came in 60 out of 80. Not sure if that is with handicap/Portsmouth ratings or not. My top speed was 6.1 knots. A fun sail.