New Traveler

Installed the new traveler today, though it took much longer than anticipated. We'll be giving it a whirl tomorrow.

 

 

 

Latest Project

Here is Chris' latest project, a Santana 20. Came with 8 usable sails and trailer.

Zihuatanejo

It's been a long time since my husband has updated his blog, so I'm taking it upon myself to post. We've just returned home from a week-long trip to Zihuatanejo (not long enough). Our hotel (Brisas del Mar) was very nice, and the service was amazing. Looking out our hotel room window, we were able to see all the beautiful sailboats. Just how long would it take to sail to Zihua?

There were rent-able Hobie Cats, but we'll need to do that on our next trip. And there will be another trip.

We spent one whole day on a private tour with a very gracious and knowledgeable taxi driver named Juan Carlos Garcia. He took us places we'd never have know about or explored on our own.

A Good Day

Yesterday was a good day. Plenty of wind, and that's important. The highly anticipated Bridge to Bridge race last weekend ended prematurely, due to a significant lack of wind. Only 2 of 11 boats finished the race, and only one of those under the time limit. So the boys turned around after 10 hours (and 22 miles) of sailing.

Yesterday we took advantage of a day off work to take the boat out for a fun sail. The wind was just right (out of the southwest), and the river flat. We headed down river initially. There were two or three other sailboats out, very little ship traffic, and quite a few small fishing boats to avoid.

YBYC: Bridge to Bridge

Chris left for the mooring basin about a half hour ago, and by now the crew should be underway and heading for the Columbia River Bar for the Bridge to Bridge race. This will be a first-time experience for the four crew members. Wish I could be there, but someone's got to work...

The B2B website says this about the race:

This race is one of the most exciting sailboat races in the Pacific Northwest! Sail through 100 miles of sunshine, blue skies and the most beautiful coastline on the West Coast. The race starts at the mouth of the Columbia River at buoy 2 and finishes in beautiful Newport, Oregon; it is handicapped at just under 100 nautical miles and is usually an overnight race. The elapsed time record is held by “Grins” at 10 hours and 45 minutes. http://www.yaquinabayyachtclub.org/B2B.htm

Chris will be checking in regularly, and will hopefully send photos along with the texts and calls.

New Main

I see my husband's been a bit remiss in his postings, so thought I'd pop in. We've been able to get the boat out on the river once so far this year. I took a couple photos of the new main sail.










Now we're waiting for a new jib, which is being made by North Sails.

Astoria Regatta weekend sail

We took Deanna's sister and nephew (Debbie and Dylan) sailing, Sunday the 16th. The day started out cool, cloudy, and breezeless. But by the time the afternoon rolled around, the clouds burned off and the sun came out. As did the wind. And the waves. Dylan did a great job tailing the sheets and keeping an eye on ship traffic via the laptop navigation program (thanks!).

The Astoria Regatta was this weekend, so there were many boats out on the river ~ sailboats, fishing boats, and a few ships and barges. We motored, then sailed upriver to avoid most of the traffic. It was an exciting sail, and "Footloose" performed really well with a reefed genoa and main (the jib needs a little work, or we would have used that sail). 7 knots over the ground, I think.