Weekend update

At Heron Lake in far northern New Mexico, the New Mexico Sailing Club had five boats racing yesterday -- a Santana 20, Soling, and three cruisers including a boat with a new member couple on board. Races wound up being reach out and reach back with starts being a bit ragged or slow for a lot of folks. Handicapping will be on base Portsmouth. The weather has been alternating wind / calm / rain / odd. The Heron Lake marina now has about 32 boats in residence, with a boat on a mooring and another boat visiting the marina for the weekend. It looks as though there might also have been a boat anchoring out in a cove on the lake tonight.

I kayaked from near our cabin down the Willow Creek arm of the lake to the marina late this afternoon -- it turns out there was a potluck that had just ended as I got there. I wound up being a water taxi to bring a couple of items from the marina to Gerald and for some folks in our neighborhood.

Gerald is helping Carol Anne cook up some chicken cacciatore and we have a cozy fire in the fireplace in the den.

Sailing tally update

As of May 25, 2009, the sailing tally for the year so far stands at

20 days sailing including
9 days of racing (Frostbite, Team Chute-Out,
SS1 Sat., SS1 Sun., SS1 Sat., SS2 Sun., SS3 Sat., SS3 Sun., Slocum)

Statistic -- as of February 16 we'd sailed 13 out of the first 47 days of the year (28%), but from Feb. 17 through May 25 we only sailed 7 days out of 98 (7%) -- four times less often... ouch!

Since mid-February we've NOT had a even one single day of sailing practice or recreational sailing (except for a few hours one day of me shuttling the boat between marinas). That's really terrible and bad for our skills; we're not at a level where we can quit practicing and expect to perform at the same level. We've probably stagnated and been set back. It's not fun racing if we can't practice, sail with better sailors, and improve. With the way things have been going (or NOT going), I think Carol Anne is pretty disappointed with the whole sailboat racing idea. Watching all the boats sailing away without her the morning of the Jack and Jill regatta was particularly awful and discouraging for her.

6 days race committee

4 days+ kayaking

Nautical days
Jan. 1, Thurs., "football break with Zorro"
Jan. 3, Sat., with Ribbons & crew on Caliente
Jan. 4, Sun., long day with two trips out on Constellation and long trip up to Monticello and Barney's
Jan. 9, Fri., fairly long trip north on Constellation
Jan. 11, Sun., lighter air, Constellation
Jan. 15, Fri., Evantagram Centerboard Regatta, Lake Pleasant, RC
Jan. 16, Sat., AYC 49th Birthday Regatta, RC
Jan. 17, Sun., AYC Birthday Regatta, RC
Jan. 22, Thu., ferry Black Magic north from Marina del Sur to Rock Canyon
Jan. 23, Fri., tuning Black Magic with Zorro on Constellation
Jan. 24, Sat., Frostbite Regatta, 3 races, redress after going to get aid for holed J/24, also skipper/crew meeting and evening club meeting/awards presentation
Jan. 25, Sun., ferry Black Magic back south to mast up, plus kayaking in the waves
Feb. 7-8 ?
Feb. 13, Fri., solo sail to ferry Black Magic north
Feb. 14, Sat., team chute out
Feb. 15, Sun., nice sail, 12th day of sailing
Feb. 16, Mon., President's Day, broke tiller while sailing Black Magic south with Husker and Carol Anne -- lucky 13th day of sailing
Feb. 20-21 ?? (broken tiller, no one to sail with)
Feb. 27-28??
Mar. 7, Big Boat regatta, motored Syzygy as RC, CA on Windependent, too windy
Mar. 8, successful this time with Big Boat Regatta, Pat RC
Mar. 14-15?
Mar. 21, Sat., Spring Series 1 -- lots of short races (Holden/Zink/Strasia protest)
Mar. 22, Sun., Spring Series 1 -- lots more short races
March 28 -- retrieved Rhinos from south cove via shore
April 4 -- marina work at Heron?
April 11, Pickle Race, very windy, only two boats braved the conditions
April 12, Easter?
April 18, Spring Series 2 -- Marty r.c. with boat trouble (we were only Etchells)
April 19, Spring Series 2 -- Marty r.c.
April 24-27, long weekend at Heron, 3 days kayaking to retrieve Rhinos plus Sat. B dock work party
May 2, Sat., Spring Series 3 (Alan, Oso)
May 3, Sun., Spring Series 3 (Alan, Oso)
May 10, Sat., Slocum single-hand (put Black Magic away because we though CA had a boat to crew on for the Jack and Jill on Sunday)
May 11, Sun. Race committee -- Carol Anne was stranded and didn't get to sail (no Etchells showed up to race)
May 18-19, remained home in Abq.
May 25-27, Memorial Day weekend, hung around Heron Lake

Because of finances (tight, and we're trying to sell our MacGregor), schedule (a possible trip abroad, at least for Gerald with part of the family, plus activities scheduled this summer at the Butte), and some changes in how things are done at Heron, we don't have boats in the water at the Heron Marina for this summer. However, I've done some kayaking there and we might eventually do some dinghy sailing or sailing on other people's boats at Heron.

Update from the mountains

We're spending the Memorial Day weekend near Heron Lake in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Friday we had a late lunch/early dinner with Carol Anne's folks in Los Alamos. After arriving at the cabin, we watched movies into the wee hours.

Saturday I ran errands into Chama and hung around the lake. The paving still has not been completed on the roads to the boat ramps and is now scheduled for next week. Although the boat ramps can be accessed (during dry weather) on a limited basis, most power boaters and owners of smaller boats are using the primitive boat ramp at Ridge Rock.

A boating safety officer from the New Mexico state parks department was at the primitive ramp yesterday helping supervise the ramp and giving out safety info.

The New Mexico Sailing Club had planned to host its first regatta of the season and it appeared that six boats were racing.

Yesterday some mule deer passed through our yard.

Saturday late afternoon we attended a spaghetti dinner at Shroyer Center, the community center for our neighborhood.

Weather has been cooler lately, with rain and clouds, so we got a nice fire going in our fireplace last night and have kept it going.

If I get at all ambitious and it doesn't rain too much, I'll put a kayak in the water and perhaps get some photos.

Touching base...

Rumors of my demise... as the saying goes, could be slightly exaggerated. I've not been taking so many photos lately but got some at this weekend's spring series regatta, so those should be published soon. We had two good races and a third that had to be canceled when to wind did a Houdini vanishing act just after we rounded the windward mark. The other Etchells weren't able to play with us, so we started with the J fleet. Last weekend, the sailing club (Rio Grande) hosted 30 youth for the Great Easter Pickle Race. And, in the previous weekends I kept busy rounding up Black Rhinos at Heron Lake.

Sailing at Elephant Butte Lake, Sunday, January 25, 2009

Etchells Constellation. After some comic-opera mis-communications, Zorro wound up with Blondie and a boyfriend on board, both of whom were unprepared for conditions on the water when the winds picked up.

Fickle winds made trimming the chute a frustrating exercise for a while during Cornhusker's solo sail on Sunday. Later on the winds came up even stronger than on Saturday, gusting into the 25-mph range with steady winds exceeding 20 mph.





Look ma, we can even sail dead downwind backwards!

We sailed around the lake for a while with Cornhusker and Zorro, then sailed to the courtesy dock near Marina del Sur. We dumped sails a bit too soon and fell short of the dock (which is still much better than ramming it because of going way too fast). The winds were too strong to let us scull or paddle to the dock, so we raised the jib and used it to sail to the courtesy dock. Then we had to wait quite a while for the winds to settle down; there was just too much wind to try to put our non-motorized thirty-foot keelboat on a trailer. So, we returned to Rock Canyon Marina, where Husker had returned with her boat, and visited with the marina staff, Ron, Lance, and marina co-owner Neal. I took a kayak out into the choppy water and whitecaps for a bit of exercise and play time while waiting for Constellation to return to the marina, which it eventually did with a soggy, chilled crew. Then we had lunch with Zorro, Blondie, and Matt. Returning to the ramp area, we found that the winds had moderated, so Carol Anne and I were able to retrieve the boat. We faced one additional challenge, however; the lot truck we used to haul Black Magic to the mast-up lot had no headlights.

Arizona Birthday Regatta sailing trip log, January 2009,

Wednesday, Jan. 14 – arrived Scottsdale 5:30, checked in, dinner with Gerald at Texaz off route 51.

Thur., Jan. 15 – Gerald ran errands on campus, then we met at Chipotle east of ASU for lunch. Went by West Marine. Visited JJ and Howard in the evening in Sun City West; JJ was a very active Rio Grande Sailing Club member when she lived in New Mexico and still keeps up her associate membership. Sun City’s roads are dark and a bit confusing, but then the residents probably don’t drive a lot after dark. Got socks for Gerald at sporting goods place on Mayo Drive off Scottsdale Road near the condo.

Fri. Jan. 16 – Went to Pleasant Harbor, met Arno, Dave, and Pat B. Went with Pat to fill tanks and launch TTL pontoon boat. Event running behind schedule; waited with John at marina and race committee boat; took a quick look at John’s 30’ Chrysler TMI 1980-81 sloop. John, in spite of a short time as owner that was interrupted by a hospital visit, has been busy; he’s already re-built his first marine head. Went out and ran races; Dave as PRO, me as board flipper and general deputy and jack of all trades; part of time worked radio with support boats, helped coordinate signaler, worked with Dale to anchor and hoist anchor, etc. Three starting groups; single-hand, double-hand, and multi-hull. Morning winds were 4-8 kt. NE to NNE; mid-afternoon switch to SW but only about 2-4 kt. We noticed that the pontoon boat seemed to have only one anchor, when in the past it’s been said to be equipped with a second anchor. Dave, as a principal engineer for building the pontoon boat, filled me in on a lot of how it was designed and set up.

Gerald wound up helping unload and set up for the regatta at the big tent above Spinnaker Point and later became a beverage server, consorting with the Merit Boys. Stir fry dinner was quite good, with four different stir fries. Pat B. said kind words at the presentation.

Sat. Jan. 17 – Event running quite a bit behind schedule in morning; waited at pontoon boat at marina courtesy dock. After rest of crew arrived, and Gerald produced the magic key to start the motor and drive the boat, we went out in a good breeze of around 10-12 kts and set up. John W. was PRO with me as his co-; I again did boards, helped with wind shifts/courses/line and radio for mark boat, PA system, anchor, etc. We had a big crew of about 10 to 12 people on board with PRO, board flipper, signaler (Dale), and others doing line sighting, photography, and especially several people scoring finishes, with most scorers responsible for a couple of fleets. Eight fleets in seven starting groups at first, starting with Vipers, Buccs, Merit 25s, Spin boats, Catalina 22s, multi-hulls and Portsmouth together, PHRF non-spin (order may not be exact and changed later on in the day). Wind was nice for a couple of hours of racing but then faded to around 6 kts and then tried to shift in mid-afternoon but didn’t do a very good job of it, leaving us with only an oscillation between 0 and 3 knots. The last couple of fleets got their X course shortened at their leeward mark.

We had a couple of moderate goofs during the day, such as starting the multi-hulls when they hadn’t all finished a previous race and having to abandon their race (but the wind had fallen away to nothing, so they didn’t really mind anyway), but overall things ran quite smoothly and racers were happy with the courses we gave them. The automatic horn system on the boat worked quite well, essentially taking the place of one race committee crew member. A couple of the boards that were used as class flags need to be re-worked; one Viper board fit too tightly and needs to be shaved down and a PHRF spin board was too short and wanted to fall out of the rack. Also, several of the boards don’t fit in the slot on one segment toward the back of the courtesy rail that runs along the starboard bow. We had to re-load one mark board at the last minute and sometimes remembering to get boards in right-side-up was a challenge; it might be helpful to have something like a thin underline marked along the bottom of each board. We also found that the pontoon boat was missing some equipment for signaling course shortening and course changes; it had an S board but no flag, no C flag (with red/green and plus/minus) on board on either the pontoon boat or mark set boat, and no really easy way to signal an abandonment for only one fleet, since we’d have to hand-hold an N flag over a fleet course board.

We were in early enough that Gerald and I went into town; I dropped him off at his Jeep Cherokee so he could start moving in to his dorm room, which ASU didn’t allow until the Saturday before classes started. I took a quick dip in the pool and hot tub at the condo, then returned in time for dinner and presentations. The regatta had a fairly mellow guitar play who could play Jimmy Buffet tunes and such, which were well received; this was much better than having a loud rock band blast people out of the tent. Gerald arrived later but was introduced to the Blumms, who have a daughter who is Arizona’s youngest sailing instructor and owner of a 420 sailing dinghy. Afterward, Gerald picked up his cello and the last of his other stuff at the condo and drove to Tempe to spend the night in the dorm.

Sun. Jan. 18 – This time the committee boat kept pretty darn close to schedule; John and I arrived at 7:40 and opened the lockers to retrieve gear with the rest of the crew, including PRO David A. as well as John W., John (the Chrysler TMI owner), Janet and Eric the scorers, only seconds behind. Tad was running about 10 minutes further behind and was ferried out later on one of the other support boats. The early morning or rough weather also probably cost us some crew; we were down a couple from Saturday. For some reason, the challenge this time was opening the head door; for some reason it has two door locks and the way to open it is a bit “fiddly”. A strong NNE wind blowing at about 15 kts onto the boat’s starboard quarter hampered leaving the dock; the boat didn’t have enough power to back out so eventually we drove forward, pulling out a piece of the pontoon boat’s trim molding. Then the boat showed an oil pressure warning and had to have oil added to the reservoir adjacent to the fuel tank; there wasn’t a funnel and some got spilled on the sleeve of my fleece pullover. But, all that only set us back about 10 minutes.

Once on station, we let out lots of scope on the anchor and checked boats in. Some of the scorers had three fleets this day, and with higher winds, more noise, and boats finishing closer together, there was more of a challenge to communicate between the line sighters and the scorers to make sure that none of the boats were missed, and to make sure that times were recorded for all the handicap fleet boats. As PRO, Dave A. especially concentrated on line sighting at the forward mast and working with the scorers, especially trying to get good verbal feedback from them to make sure boat positions and times weren’t lost. John, Dale, and I covered the rest of the bases other than scoring; Dale signaled and worked with me on the anchor, while I did board flips and watched the wind and line a lot.

The wind stayed strong on Sunday, remaining at around 10-12 kts and shifting only a bit eastward, which eventually caused the pontoon boat to swing west, toward the starting pin. That left the finish line too long and the start line skewed and short, but we were so busy starting boats that we didn’t get enough of a breather to re-set the line until just before the fourth and final set of races for the stay. Previously, however, we’d had the mark boat set an A (alternate, green) mark further to the east, and move the leeward mark that was far to the south of the committee boat, so the racers always had good windward legs. (That is, except for some of the fleets, which were sent on triangles for some of their races; the multihulls, Portsmouth boats, and PHRF non-spin got in some reaching legs.) And, for the final race of the day, we sent a couple of fleets (Merit 25, PHRF spin) the long way upwind to round Horse Island as their windward mark, sending them on a big windward-leeward race that then had them round the South mark back toward the dam before finishing upwind.

We worked at a furious pace, getting off four races and starting close to 200 boats. The first two serious of starting sequences came off without interruption; 14 starts in 75 minutes. Then, there was only about a ten-minute interruption before the third sequence. And perhaps a fifteen- or twenty-minute break before the fourth – just enough time for folks to grab lunch and re-adjust settings while we re-adjusted the line and courses. Because of the heavier winds and earlier starting time, some boats didn’t race on Sunday, but we still had about ¾ of the 65 boats that had raced on Saturday. One Buccaneer did flip and we dispatched the mark set boat to help. We had two other support boats, but one of them didn’t have a good radio and the mark set boat was closest.

Aside from perhaps wanting to improve communication between the scorers and line sighters, and not being able to react as well as we’d like to the boat swinging on the long anchor line, things went very smoothly on the committee boat and the races were run efficiently. Fleets got in from five to eight races between Saturday and Sunday, so everyone got one throw-out.

We did have a couple of rules issues involving the start and finish lines, which were restricted by the sailing instructions to effectively make them an obstruction to boats racing but not starting or finishing. A couple of Buccs sailed through the finish line on the downwind leg of a windward-leeward course, causing them to be scored DNF in accordance with the SIs. And, two Merits were overlapped sailing downwind, with the outside boat not giving the inside boat room to sail outside the starting pin buoy. The inside boat then had to collect its chute, head upwind several boat lengths, and come around outside the mark to “unwind her string” (exonerated for so because she had been forced inside by the outside boat). Although the outside boat later did a 720 two-turns penalty to atone, a crew member on the inside boat thought that wasn’t enough of a penalty to make up for how far back the inside boat had been moved. But, although we made provisions to hold a protest hearing if needed, it didn’t happen; I met with some of the members of the Merit fleet after the race and we had a good discussion and resolved to clear up a couple of possible rules issues. The PRO trio on the committee boat also had a good discussion about time limits and the ability to shorten courses; perhaps a couple of refinements could be made to the SIs in the future to clarify the rules and empower the PROs/race committee in this area.

One other issue was beyond the power of the race organizers. When the regatta schedule had been set, no one knew that there would be a competing athletic event on Sunday afternoon down near where loop 101 west meets Interstate 20. I think it was some sort of American footy-ball event involving some Red Birds and Eagle Birds, but whatever it was, it made some of the race committee and sailors disappear shortly after their boats docked. As someone with an outside perspective, I made some notes for the regatta organizers and race committee folks; perhaps they’ll be of some use.

After the awards ceremony it was time for a fuel stop and the long drive home. Because I was so far north, I took the longer route through Flagstaff rather then the shorter one via Payson and stopped for dinner in Gallup at the El Rancho. It was almost 11:00 p.m. when the trip ended back in Albuquerque.

Sailing at Elephant Butte Lake, January 11, 2009

Sunday morning dawned with a breeze already established on the lake. Batgal and I were pretty quick about getting up and going and were soon out on Elephant Butte Lake. There we had a good morning sail in the race course area with Zorro, until conditions lightened and we went in for lunch at Hodge's Corner Restaurant, a favorite breakfast and lunch hangout in Elephant Butte for local sailors.

When we returned to the dock, conditions were light, but Zorro was ready for the second sail of the day. (On Sunday, January 4, we'd gotten in two great sails for something like six hours of sailing, which is a pretty good achievement for a short winter day in an open boat.) But, a second sail wound up not being in the cards for us; Batgal was anxious to head back to prepare for the beginning of teaching classes the next day and Tad was ready to head home and prepare to drive to Arizona the next day. (I would follow him on Wednesday, and we both had general plans to help him prepare for his term and to participate in the Arizona Yacht Club's Birthday Regatta.) So, we drove on northward. That still left my tally at five days of sailing so far in January, which was better than I'd managed during some summer months.

Sailing at Elephant Butte Lake, Jan. 9, 2009

Sunshine over the bow.

On Friday, we (Batgal, Tad, and I) got to the lake in time for a great sail with "Zorro" on Constellation. Winds were pretty brisk, though not as strong as the previous Sunday, so we did some sailing in the race course area and then headed north past Long Point Island and Kettletop Mesa. We got about as far as Barney's Cove and near the south Monticello boat ramp before heading south, again enjoying nice spinnaker runs and reaches. The wind let up a bit, but not too much, and we wound up sailing in dusk and twilight, then under the rising moon, which was very near full. Coming into the marina, we were slow to get the mainsail down and came in a bit "hot".

That evening we left Tad at Dino and Sister Rosebia's cabin at Hot Springs Landing and drove back to Albuquerque, with plans to return south later in the weekend. Gerald got to learn some practical lessons about managing rental properties with Dino in our absence.

Bow view to the south

Bow view

Sail and sky

Tad (mostly his hair!) and Batgal

Batgal

Hilly panorama

Moon over hills

Mountain and hill panorama

Little Kettletop

Sailing at Elephant Butte Lake, January 3, 2009

We came back to Elephant Butte Lake for the first weekend of the year. Batgal and Tad hopped on Constellation with Zorro while I joined new owner "Ribbons" and his crew, Brett, on Caliente. We had some good sailing around the race course and even got the chute up on Caliente for the first time.

Christmas week in Laguna Vista, northern New Mexico

As we left the Chama Valley after our Christmas vacation in Laguna Vista, the Brazos Cliffs gleamed in the sun. During the week, Batgal and Tad spent lots of time baking; some light fluffy bizcochitos and some awesome chocolate chip cookies were among the results. We also keep a wood fire going for several days and enjoyed the company of Dulce indoors and some wild friends outdoor. I got in a bit of exercise shoveling lots of snow and a bit of gravel.

Buried beneath the snow, somewhere in this picture are a few boats in this view from our back door. Our Christmas holiday was more than adequately white, with snow falling during our Christmas dinner in Santa Fe and continuing for much of the following week. We eventually left the white country to celebrate New Year's eve at Elephant Butte Lake in southern NM, where there was no snow except atop some mountains on the western horizon.


View through the front screen door of the front porch covered in snow and more snow beyond.