Log of August , 2008

August 4 2008
The party consisted of: Denise Hebert-Finnigan (Ann Arbor via Kentucky), Margaret Lansing + Ken Ludwig, Capt George Whitehead
Departed 14:00ish Calm + Sunny, out the channel, inspected the Maya.
Then out towards the daylight, returned w/ threatening skies, rain on the horizon--"Jesus Step", dry + happy, we broke a block underway. Returned: 16:25

Nice relaxed sail in light air. The stud up from the mounting plate for the main sheet block on the port side of the cabin top inexplicably broke clean off in light air as we sailed back in. The temporary repair was to use two of the bolt holes to secure a spare block with a lashing. We used this successfully for the rest of the season.

August 9 10:30-2:15 pm
Party: George & Betsy, Kenzie and her friend Erin, Leland and his friend Rachel, Amanda and Gabriel, Cousin Dwight Lansing and son Timothy (The all novice crew :)). Pleasant sail to Hyannisport and back to Egg Island for a swim.

August 10: George & Betsy set sail ~11:30. Destination: Cape Wind Test tower.
12:45 Beating out past Bishop & Clerks near Hodges Rock.
1538 At the data tower 41-28.4N/70-18.9 W/25 ft of water.
18:13 Having run/broad reached back, made perfect sailing mooring pickup, to applause from wooden sloop on next mooring.

This was a delightful sail.  What with all the family activities, Betsy and I only manage to get a couple of days of sailing together in the summer.  The weather was great and we just had a nice relaxing day.  We make a habit of sailing on and off the mooring when possible; it is good practice in both senses of the phrase, so it was vaguely embarrassing to get applause from the folks in the next mooring for doing what we do all the time.

August 15--Afternoon sail--Peggy & Bruce, Betsy & GW. Out to near Bishop & Clerks in comfortable afternoon S'W;erly, then back, into Uncle Roberts Cove and home.

August 17--Ted, Leo, Kerry & two friends of hers & GW. Blowing 25 kts. Double reef & a scrap of jib. Reached around the Bay for about 1 hr and then to the cove to anchor & swim.

Aug 19 Tues--Breezy Southerly--Thunder squalls forecast for early afternoon. 10 am to Egg I for a swim. The crew consisted of Ema, Ted, Leo, Ty, Betsy & GW. Set Jib & jigger & beat out to the (E.) end of Egg I. Anchored 15 feet off the island. As we were getting the anchor the engine shift cable broke with the transmission in fwd. Got the anchor, shut down the engine and sailed out & back to the mooring. Moored by 1130, front swept through ~1300, back out on the mooring to remove the cable by 1430. Showers ~1630 while sharing a beer with Ziggurat (Finisterre look alike).

This is the last entry for August. After that I replaced the shift cable, cleaned the prop and got ready for the trip down east with fuel, water and supplies. We did some more local sailing during the last couple of weeks and were eager to get to Maine.

All summer we had seen the storm clouds streaming past only a few miles to the west of us, but on Lewis Bay it had been a fine season.

The owner of Ziggurat, son of the man who had sailed this famous S&S design around the world, borrowed our copy of the Maine cruising guide and set off for points east. The weather was breezy while he was gone. He reappeared about ten days later having gotten to Plymouth and then thought better of the long stretches of open water lying ahead to be covered single-handed. I was relieved, since the weather had been quite brisk and unsettled while he was gone.

We had a good crew lined up and were looking forward to heading out at the end of the month. We just needed some good luck with the weather.

Log of Saturday, August 2, 2008

August 2--Make & mend. July 11 to the end [of the month] was mostly consumed with shore-side family activities. On July 11 & 12 we took family members and wedding guests on day sails. On July 13 we took three separate groups on sails. By the end of the day the breeze was mid 20s, gusting to ~30 kts and we were happy to have a double reef in the mainsail. Then later in the month we took several sails/picnics/swims with the family. The engine has behaved fine with the new filter--plan to change it again before heading down east. The mooring pennant jumped out of the chock a week ago and roughed up some of the woodwork but I did a bit of a sand & paint job. Other projects, freshen paint below. Get & install LED tricolor & anchor light. Install Deck light. Repair lock tongue. Dabs of paint here & there. Check prop & clean before heading East. Re-rig lazy jacks to be able to run them fwd. N.W. is generally in fine shape.

As of late the following winter, the to-do list in this entry is partly done. I have re-painted much of the cabin white paint, installed the replacement deck light, the lock tongue, cleaned the prop. I still need to get LEDs for the masthead lights, re-rig the lazy jacks and do various other bits of bosunry.

Log of Thursday, July 10, 2008

July 10--Replaced Racor filter @ 870 hrs. Ran for 1/2 hr + under load with no problem, so hoping its OK.

This was my first day back from Alaska and there were a lot of things to do for Geo and Deirdre's wedding. But happily for me, one of the things on the agenda was to have North Wind available on Friday and Saturday as local entertainment. So I had a built-in excuse to head out to the mooring and set things to rights.

The engine hours were 802.5 on the first Friday of June in Maine after about 12 hours under power, so we have logged about 80 hours under power this season thus far.