As the subject line says - mostly good sail today except for the start. Due to a stiff crosswind, raising the mast took a three tries, as it kept swaying and I could not hold it from going sideways. Lucky for me I spotted a young man (20ish) and his dad getting ready to launch. The young man gladly helped me, and the fact that he was at least 6 feet tall certainly helped.
Next, as I was leaving the marina, two women on paddle boards were dead center in the fairway, and there was a good headwind as well. I blew my whistle but their response was like a deer in the headlights. They kind of froze and I quickly cut the engine to "turtle" speed. Unfortunately (for me) a gust totally stopped the boat and it was blown way too close to a slip and the transom caught the bow roller of a boat in the slip. Small chip now on my transom >:(
The rest of the sail was fairly smooth, winds 5-10 knots from the SW, which is typical in summer. My wife was walking with her friends at the beach and they were able to see me out in the bay. When I dropped my sails to come in my wife took the short ride to the marina and met me just as I pulled up to the finger pier. Having someone grab the dock lines and then help pack up was great.
Brian, glad you did get out. :) Open water is the fun place to be, and that can be hard to reach some days.
Glen is in the beginning of a home project, but paused to service his boat trailers bearings, so I guess that he is also in the watery mood.
Krusen
Here is a picture of the chip. Not very big, but just exposes a bit of fiberglass. Any advice on repair?
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Glad you got out there Brian, despite the hassles. You might consider adding baby stays, even if you only need them when you have a stiff crosswind? Then you wouldn't need the help of strapping young lads ... ;D
As for the chip, it's hard to tell from the pic, but it doesn't look big or deep enough to require a full-on fiberglass repair? I could be wrong, but it does need to be sealed up if it goes into the substrate. Maybe dry it out fully and repair with Marine-Tex?
Glad you had a good day overall Brian. Sorry about the chip. Agree in that I don't think you need to worry about fiberglassing. Just fill it with something.
No run-ins with paddle boards for me last night. Just the humbling experience of having pedal-swans leave me in their wake.
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Ooofah Tom. Bet you wish you had one of those fancy pedal drives like those sailboats that started the 2nd leg of the R2AK today! It's been a pretty light air affair so far, and at times the kayaks have been leading ... :o