Not a great boating season

[Brian N.]

Sailing days have been limited this summer. Rain, heat, no wind, too much wind, adverse tides, obligations, car troubles all combined to limit my sailing opportunities. I've gone out a total of five times (six if I consider the time I went out and returned because the water was far too rough). Those five days were excellent, but September's and October's calendar are  full of other events. I don't feel "guilty" about not using the boat much, but I sure miss the days out on the water. 

[Quantico Frank]

Sailing days have been limited this summer. Rain, heat, no wind, too much wind....

The wx has been bad on the Potomac as well, Brian— even worse than last July/August. Since I take the boat to Norfolk for a while in the summer, I've noticed that the winds are consistently stronger in Hampton Roads. While there is not enough wind to sail out of Quantico into next week, my Windy app tells me there's excellent wind at the Norfolk Naval Station starting today through Sunday.

[Macsp21]

Do you trailer and stand mast each sail

[Brian N.]

Yes the boat is on the trailer in the driveway. The ramp is less than 2 miles from the house, and set up (with crew) is about 1/2 hour, but usually because of tide restrictions, a "quick sail is not usually possible.

[Riggerdood]

You're still doing better than me this year Brian. Only been out twice, Mission Bay in February, and Catalina in June. And I'm going to miss the Channel Islands cruise next month because I have to go to OH for a funeral. So, count your blessings I guess ... ?

[Macsp21]

Sounds like alot of obsticles to overcome to sail each time.i had all the same obsticles when i had my hobie getaway,an hour drive to boat ,than trailering ,setup,sail if too much wind we would just sail in the cedar creek .than reload on trailer derig secure rinse and repeat.
With the 21 she in a slip, a hour drive to marina sail 4 hours to nowhere and back ,3 times a week may to sept.this seems to be working for me no bad seasons

[DBthal]

We have had an extremely rainy Spring & Summer this year. Fortunately, keeping my boat on a mooring, I've been able to easily get out on the "in between" days. A dozen days out so far, mostly in August.

A humorous story: I had just finished a great day out and was putting the boat to bed on the mooring. A sailor neighbor paddled up in her kayak and said, "I was going to call the Sheriff on you..........  You have been exceeding hull speed in that boat!" 

I have had some of my fastest sailing ever. 6+ knots a number of times and one time hit a personal record of 7.4 knots on the GPS surfing an ocean swell.

[JimInVA]

Hey Brian, Keep tryin'. I didn't get our P23 in until July 7. Work, life, trying to find help to get the mast up. It's about an hour drive to the marina. Plus time to pack sandwiches, coffee etc. It's been pretty hot and humid most of the time too so we've tried to get out early before it really starts cooking. Our marina has a small outdoor shower that has come in handy for post sail rinse offs.
Still we have managed four sails since then of varying degrees of enjoyment. The last one was the best. Fall down here in VA is dry and breezy (sometimes too breezy). I plan to keep her in the water though October or maybe a bit of November. I realize for you Northern sailors that might not still be fun sailing weather. Here's a quick video of our last sail off Colonial Beach in the Potomac (if I can get it attached). We left the pier at around 0900 and we're back just after noon. All of our pier neighbors were just showing up then. I think we used up all of their wind 😬.
Jim
Sorry, No video. File size too large message. Tried downsizing. No luck.

[DBthal]

Brian, 

Many of the Northeast's nicest sailing days are in September & October. Maybe you can still get out between commitments.

Dan

[Brian N.]

Yes, I hope to sail a little in the early fall. Depends upon how many tropical storms and hurricanes get up the east coast, but the fall can be a great season to sail.

[tjspiel]

Was reflecting back on my season today too and realized that I haven't really taken the boat out and enjoyed a long afternoon on it this year.

I volunteer with a group called "Youth Sailing Resources" on Thursday nights where we take kids sailing from about age 8 to 14 years old. It's been warm so they prefer to spend a good chunk of the time swimming or doing "crew over boards". The latter is good practice for me but the former means I pretty much just sit there.

Another plus is that I get to sail a variety of boats but the kids favor the Hobies while most of the adult skippers don't enjoy them so much. Which means I'm taking out a Hobie most of the time.

Aside from that, I get out on my boat about once a week but usually just for a couple of hours during the evening. Would have liked to spend more time on it but enough of my week is devoted to sailing as it is.

[Tom G P 21]

This year it has been quality over quantity. Between have a sore arm for two weeks, the lousy weather in June and July, and then working on my roller furler I haven't been out very much. But the few times I've gotten out have been spectacular. Normally the prevailing wind comes from the east which sets up for a headwind for me. I end up tacking back and forth for two hours and gain a couple of hundred yards. This year, on the other hand, three times I've gone out and the wind is from the south west which allow me to sail along the south shore of Cape Ann from Salem to Gloucester about 10 nautical miles on one tack. Normally I am solo but one time my son joined me and he even commented that normally we don't get out this far.

[Quantico Frank]

Sorry, No video. File size too large message. Tried downsizing. No luck.

Jim, you might want to try uploading your videos to youtube and just providing a link. That's worked for me in the past....

[Riggerdood]

Sorry, No video. File size too large message. Tried downsizing. No luck.

Jim, you might want to try uploading your videos to youtube and just providing a link. That's worked for me in the past....

That's probably the best way, as I'm not sure that videos can be posted directly here anyway, although I think Straander successfully posted an animated gif once or twice?

[JimInVA]

I was thinking the same after seeing Ron's cool Ultimate 20 video today. Of course after that, my minute long daysail vid looks pretty lame by comparison. I don't have a YouTube channel, but I can probably figure it out. If not, my sons are pretty tech savvy with that sort of thing.
I have the next couple of days off, but the weather is currently showing rain on and off. I'll have to check it out again in the morning. Maybe I'll find a couple of hour window where I can get out. Not too worried about getting wet, but don't want to get blasted by a thunderstorm.
Jim