A Change in the Sailing Season Is Underway
It was another spectacular weekend on the Bay, but the days are shorter and how we spend them is shifting. We finished the Friday night race at 7:36, which was eight minutes before the official sunset, and the time limit to finish is always 15 minutes after sunset. That’s a lot earlier than our 8:35 sunset on the June 21 solstice.
Despite the earlier sunset, the air was warm, the sky clear, the water flat and the breeze steady, and we had good friends on board. To have all those conditions contained in one evening is pretty much sailing nirvana. Contrast that with the stormy, rainy Parkinson’s Regatta in April and you’d think these conditions are necessary to the fun. But everyone’s smile after that day of racing reminds us that a thrash on board can be an even more exciting adventure.
After a visit to Hood Sails and Spaulding Marine Center on Friday afternoon as part of the Latitude 38 work “grind,” our sales rep, Maddy Garcia, joined us to grind winches for our Friday night buoy tour around the Knox course. For some reason, participation slips as the season goes by, but the sailing was as good as ever. Maddy was on the trim team that got us around the Easom buoy and Knox, and home.
The last race of the CYC season is this coming Friday, and with that, we look forward to fall sailing and taking care of some boat projects. There are always boat projects, but in fall and winter, the sailing-vs.-boat-project ratio shifts toward projects. Below are a couple on the list.
Winter means it’s time for a refresh on the dock lines in our slip. It’s actually overdue. You can see a very worn shackle holding a weakening dock line to the secure ring on our dock. It’s always worth preparing your boat for winter, and the mysterious El Niño winter may be better than usual or may be worse. We’ll try to be ready for anything.
This looks more problematic. While checking the engine oil, we saw that the bellows holding the grease lubricating the U-joint at the back end of the transmission had been rubbing against the hull for who knows how long, allowing the grease to slowly ooze out through a small hole. Dang. Have you ever had a problem like that? It looks as if a trip to the boatyard will be necessary sometime soon.
While we were out racing on Friday, the club’s Cal 20 went sailing by with the Moore family of four. It’s a good reminder that you don’t have to own a boat to sail; you don’t have to race to get out there; and very inexpensive and simple boats can give you as much pleasure as any boat on the Bay.
We’re looking forward to California’s fall sailing season and also checking off a few more projects on the list.