First Tuesday night race…
Raced sluff for the first time last night. It was the last race of the spring series. Yarrow offered to help me as Dad’s “stuck” delivering avalanche right now. We haven’t gotten our real rating yet from PHRF (they’re having a meeting for us this week) so they gave us a provisional rating of 108… :lol: It’s funny because that’s way too low IMHO (the open rates 130~156 in other regions). I’m sure they’re just being cautious for now. Regardless it looked to be a perfect night, but the wind dropped from 10~15 before the race to 5~8 for the race. Light air isn’t fun for me ever, but our boat will not sail to it’s eventual rating, never mind 108 in light air. We still had a great night and a ton of fun. Going sailing, getting around a course, and NOT breaking anything are always good things. It’s also the first time I’ve moved the boat with my car which felt great.
SS bike?
I recently converted my road bike into a SS. Basically it was this or spend a bunch of money on new parts (cassette etc) so I went the cheap DIY route and converted it with a bunch of old parts I had that would work. It’s been a fun project so far. I still want to make it”Mobbed out” by painting everything black, but knowing my schedule I knew that would take all summer. Plus I’m toying with chopping off everything that’s needed for shifters (cable housings etc) so I figured I should build it and ride it as a SS before I commit to that. I expect painting it to be a fun fall/winter project if it happens. For now it’s a fun SS bike to cruise on and ride to get in shape. It’s noticeably lighter and very simple.
Elias week 11 update!
Elias is actually in my lap as I type this… 
He’s getting bigger and stronger all the time. He can now roll over from his belly to his back. We’re working on getting it on camera but he’s done it probably 5 times this week. Nikki also went back to work for the first time Friday. On of her co-workers needed the Friday afternoon block covered (answering phones) so Nikki gladly filled in. Debbie came over and did a test run for “Debbie daycare” and all went well. Nikki officially goes back next Monday. We also had a wedding yesterday (Chris And Lise Landi, scroll down to see pictures!). Debbie came over and baby sat for us then as well and we had a great time going to an adult event. Today we’re off to a BBQ with Katie, Matt and Hayden. Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend as much as we are.
Oh, avalanche has left Antigua as well, if you didn’t get an email, make sure you check out their blog the next 2 weeks as well: www.syavalanche.com/blog
Chris and Lise’s Wedding!
Chris and Lise got married today. Chris and I work together (he’s the IT guy). They had a wonderful wedding today in MA. It was Nikki and my first day out together w/o Elias. It was kinda fun doing something “adult” again, but we both also missed him. Debbie was very helpful and came over to baby site for us. The wedding was at lakeview pavilion and was very nice. We had a great time with the D’Angelos from work as well. I brought my cameras for my entertainment. We had a great time, and wish you the best!
Wednesday night sailing.
We normally sail Tuesday nights, but I couldn’t last night so I went tonight. I also didn’t manage to track down crew in time (part of the reason we wanted a smaller boat) so I decided to sail alone. I ended up ramp launching the boat alone (first time ramp launching, and first time sailing alone in the open) and it was quite easy. Honestly the only concern at all was the water depth which was just enough. Once I was set, I took off out of Newport and sailed down to where the NYC RC was near Rose and gybed right in front of them (in case I didn’t something stupid). Then back over to goat, then I took the chute down and went back up towards clingstone. From there is was one more chute run back towards Rose/Goat and back to the dock.
It was blowing anywhere from 12~18kt I’d say. It was basically our usual Tuesday winds, but with a few stronger puffs. The boat sails very well with just one person. You can hike all you want, or sit there and enjoy it w/o working if you like. The tide was coming in and I was hitting 5~5.5 upwind (into the current) and 8~9.5 downwind with the tide easily. It was a great night. My max speed for the night was 11.4kts and my best 10 second average was 11.1kts. Not bad I’d say… I managed to get 2 videos on the way out of the harbor while I was still in the lee of the fort: