Opening Day 2011

Today was Opening Day Ceremonies for the Morro Bay Harbor.  Receiving Line and Three Gun Salute were followed by a race in the bay.

Morro Bay Yacht Club ocean fleet Race

I participated in my first ocean race of the new year today with the Morro Bay Yacht Club (MBYC). The Winter 2 race was under clear skies and 12- 15 knots of wind with 4-7 foot swells.  A great day for sailing.

I crewed on a Dana 24 with Captain Ken. It was nice to be in a race on a boat the size of Training Wheels especially one as well appointed as this one. It had all the electronics which come in handy during a race. The fleet was split into two classes today, basically a slow group and a fast group. We did fairly well finishing first in our class (slow group) and placing second after the handicaps were applied. With the handicaps we finished 5 overall in the fleet.  Not too bad a showing.  

We blew a big lead we had ending the second leg of six legs in the race. We made a poor jibe around the marker getting the jib stuck on the staysail during the jibe and lost about 4 minuntes. It is pretty tough to get the big jib around the staysail quickly.  This is why I changed Training Wheels from a cutter rigged sailboat (has 2 sails in front of mast close together) to a sloop rig (just a main and a jib).  

A good example of a cutter rigged sailboat from the Biscayne Bay Sailing Club website.

As for Training Wheels, the kill switch on the Engine broke so the next post will be outboard engine maintenance tips. 

Today is the Reason We Live in Morro Bay

Today is the reason we live in Morro Bay: 75 degrees, warm offshore breezes. 

Truman helped with the race committee at the Yacht club for the day-sailor race today. We are happy to announce that we are officially yacht club members.  I know I will have yacht club responsibilities at some point, but today was too beautiful and I was very selfish.  I went running on the beach.  Then I cruised down to the local coffee shop to meet a friend a'la photo-tour of the sunny day.

Right before sunset, Truman and I rode over to a new wine bar called STAX.  I would highly recommend it!  The day was so picturesque and I wish that sunset wasn't so early.  We both rode our bicycles all day!

Preparations for our First Regatta: The Zongo Cup!!!

Next weekend we will participate in our first local regatta.  The Captain has crewed other boats on the blue ocean, but this will be Training Wheels' public debut.  We are sailing with the Morro Bay Yacht Club from Morro Bay to Avila Beach.  It will be a 4-6 hour sail!  When we get to Avila, we will raft up and enjoy the tunes of the Zongo All-Stars! 

Zongo Cup Preparations
Abandon Ship Bag (Floating)
First aid kit
Strobe lights
Flares
Seasick pills
Binoculars
Emergency rations
Emergency blanket
Radio
Tools
Tool box
Socket set
Rigger’s bag (electrical)
Rigger’s bag (misc)
Photography
digital small camera
Nikon D3000
Head lamp
Halogen spotlight
flashlights

Galley
dried fruit
CLIF bars
chips
beef jerkey
Nuts
water
adult beverages

Propane for BBQ
towels
Safety harness and line
sleeping bags
pillows
mirror
Check Electricity
Check Gasoline
Check Battery
Check Solar power
Check VHF

Invite all our friends to meet us in Avila!

Are we forgetting anything?

MBYC Ocean Race: Took 3rd Place!

The Captain crewed on Gracie Ray for the Summer 2 Ocean race with the Morro Bay Yacht club this weekend. Calm seas and light winds made for a slow going but we still had a enjoyable and close race. The light winds was also timely providing some more experience with whisker poles. (The First mate and myself first tried our whisker pole out on Training Wheels this last week and will complete a more detailed post on whiskers poles soon.)

An exciting moment during the race was when we caught up to Kiskadee.  We didn't expect to catch up to her because our boat, Gracie Ray, a Catalina 30 sailboat, has a much higher handicap. In sailing terms, the handicap is referred to as a  "PHRF" (United States Performance Handicap Racing Fleet). The PHRF allows boats of varying type and performance to sail on a level playing field. We made it neck and neck with Kiskadee until rounding the last marker that started a down wind run (wind from behind). Kiskadee put up her spinnaker and promptly left us in the dust.

Kiskadee setting a spinnaker

We tried to run wing and wing (Main sail to one side and Genoa to the other) but without the use of a whisker pole to hold the sail's shape in the light wind the genoa was less than helpful. At times the Genoa would even back wind and slow us down. Kiskadee finished about 5 minutes ahead of us, but we still placed ahead of them because of Gracie Ray's handicap. We did well and came in third place missing second place by about a minute. Captain even got to bring home the trophy mug!

My First Mug!

Anniversary

We celebrated the end of our Anniversary Week by riding our beach cruisers to the Yacht club for Friday Night Social.  I met lots of nice people, most of whom the Captain has already met or sailed with.  One lady, Judy, is the coordinator for the Writer's conference that we are attending in September.  It was nice to get the inside scoop on the conference. I can't wait! We also saw a couple who have a catamaran.  They want to sail to Catalina--a 3day sail--but they had trouble finding a crew for the 10 day trip. I told my Captain to crew for them, but they had already downsized to a couple 3 day trips in the area. The Captain was tentative about the whole ten days but will probably join them on one of the short trips.

I really hope that Truman can sail with them.  It would be such a wonderful learning experience.  I would have to stay at home to work, but he would have such a memorable time!  At any rate, we are happy and healthy here on the waterfront.  It is a blessing to be able to be here.  Clean water, clean air, healthy living and good loving.  I cannot ask for more!  Thank you, Lord!

Why join the Yacht Club

The idea of actually joining the yacht club has come up several times lately and it is still a bit strange. I never thought I would be a member of a yacht club, mainly because of the stereotypes associated with it. Basically the same reason I will never own a Porsche (except the old ones).

Since our journey into sailing began, I have come to see the yacht club in a different light. The local yacht club offers many things:
1. The learning opportunities, the first item that I took advantage of, sailing classes!
2. The social aspect is nice.
3. Cheap drinks.
4. Organized racing for day sailors and blue ocean sailors.
5. Yacht club garage sail!
6. Harbor hospitality, a role that was unknown to me until recently.

Yacht clubs are responsible for taking care of visiting boaters and sailors. In other words, boaters from out of town just passing through. They are called "transient boats".

The yacht clubs of Santa Barbara, King's Harbor Redondo Beach, and Catalina will all be invaluable to me when I make the passage to Catalina later this summer. I will enjoy a place to anchor or dock, a clean bathroom, definitely a shower, and of course some advice on the cuisine. Most of this costs money. And herein lies the need to join the local yacht club. It is one of those things that a sailor needs must do to do his part for sailing as a whole.

Morry Bay Yacht Club and other local resources . . .

he Morro Bay Yacht club is one of the most happinin' places in town!  Here is a little photographic tour of other local offerings.  We love our little fishing village!  We hope you do too!

Morro Bay Yacht Club spring race

Morro Bay Yacht Club ocean fleet had the "spring 2" race today. The second ocean sailing race of the spring was intended to be a Bermuda start 12 mile course race. This may not be an exact definition but a Bermuda start is where the handcaps for all the boats are taken into account at the start of race instead of after the race. A formula is used to determine how long each boat has to wait to start the race based on the boat's handicap. Kiskadee, the boat I crewed on, is supposedly the fasted boat in the fleet and has the lowest handicap. So we started last at 12:38. Unfortunately, light winds turned the race into only a 4 mile race to first marker and back.  Voyager captained by Wayne Ratcliff came in first. Captain Ratcliff got a really nice coffee mug, his 1st place prize!

I crewed for Captain Peter aboard Kiskadee which is a really nice 40ft  Hinkley. We started off strong, but got tired of the flapping sails and slow going after an hour and half into the cruise which we only made about a mile headway. We opened the beers and turned on the motor back to port. On the way in we saw Guyacanna aground hard and being pulled off by the kind harbor patrol.

I got some new ideas for reefing line confinguration from the other crew and how the Hinkley was set up, don't be surprised at a new post about that soon.

MBYC ocean race and Today's Quote

"The ocean has always been a salve to my soul...the best thing for a cut or abrasion was
to go swimming in salt water. Later down the road of life, I made the discovery that salt
water was also good for the mental abrasions one inevitably acquires on land."
-Jimmy Buffett

The Morro Bay Yacht club ocean fleet race was today and it should be an interesting day sailing if the start was any indication. The winds were close if not at a Force 5 ( 17 - 21 knots/15-24) or even up to a gale (28 knots or 31 mph) so everyone had the foul weather gear on. Then leaving the harbor not one but two boats ran aground near the harbor mouth. One boat was able to get clear but the other was aground hard and had to wait for the tide to come up a bit. Hopefully on the next race I can get some action shots to post.