Norfolk, VA
To see as much of the world as we can,
Using the smallest carbon footprint we can,
Spending the least amount of money we can,
Making as many friends we can.
Workarounds aren't really a good idea. We worked around a number of mainsail problems for years. We're finally past those not-to-smart compromises.
I don't really have good pictures of the new sails. They went on late last year, and then came down for the winter, unused …
Red Ranger's original mizzen setup had the mizzen sheet attached to a wire bridle that was shackled to the deck. Simple. Reliable.
But.
With shackles, it was difficult to press the bridle into service as a traveler. The mizzen, like the main, needs to he held down when off the …
CA cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned.
It rained much of the weekend.
I managed to drill out four screws and remove one of the mast steps to make it easier to put on a sensible sail cover. There's more to report here in the long run. For now, let me …
Last year, we — sort of — lead a cruise for Labor Day. We learned about Dog-Stopping. This year, we learned a little more about racing and light-air sail handling.
This year, we decided to participate in the Annual Billy Heinz Regatta at WRSC.
We left the …
Saturday was a beautiful day. It wasn't great for sailing, but the beauty of clear air and light breezes was spectacular. Did I mention the light breezes? From almost flat calm to about 5 kt was all the wind we had.
I (finally) started moving the cars for the yankee …
We invited our neighbors, Dan and Jen, to the boat. The weather was deep into the realm we call "sporty" — wind was about 15 kn, gusting into the low 20's. It was supposed to slack down to 10 kn later in the day. Summary: 15g20>10.
Sporty conditions aren't for …
We're getting Red Ranger ready for the summer. This means a thorough cleaning. It also means answering the questions like "What's this?" and "Why do we have it?"
It also means looking at the work done (and not done) over the winter.
Yes. That's a duck …
When we're sailing, the prop is left spinning — freewheeling. It appears that either some transmissions say "never let this happen" or sailors have determined through the rumor mill that this is bad. The idea is that the transmission has no pressure to circulate fluid and this causes wear …
One day I (finally) noticed something odd about the winches on Red Ranger. This is one of the many things I thought about when I have four hours to sit on deck and watch the ocean. You have time to think about — well — everything.
I noticed that the feeder arms …
Sunday (after returning from Reedville), we had a bit of difficulty getting into our slip.
We -- I mean I -- misjudged the turn, the wind and the timing. We banged into the building.
And—most distressing: we -- I mean I -- bent the tang …
The Commodore Says "We need new snap-shackle lanyards".
Red Ranger has a fair number of snap shackles.
Four on various halyards.
Four on the Pelican hooks for the lifelines.
Two on the running backstays.
Four on the various blocks we use for …
The Commodore Said "Those headsails are shot."
We took them to Baxter Sailmakers and had two new headsails made. This is a multi-part operation.
Measure. See Custom Tailoring. This starts Baxter on the route of laying out a pattern, getting pieces cut and sewing.
Rebuild. We had to install new …
Lon said, "Hey! You're in Deltaville every weekend. Our place is right nearby on the Coan river. Come on up to ‘Almost Heaven' some weekend." Lon and Miriam have a Whitby, also, so they're a part of our Whitby family.
Red Ranger came with a winter cover. A great thing …
We think we installed the stays'l tracks "by the book". Drill and Fill. Goo and Screw. See Custom Tailoring 2—Adding Stays'l Tracks.
During the light (but steady) rain on Saturday, I checked each screw carefully for drippage.
Sadly, we have a weeper.
The good news? The water is going …
Drill 24 holes in the deck? Are you crazy?
No. And No. It's not merely 24 holes in the deck. And we're not crazy.
The stitching had failed on Red Ranger's venerable yankee and stays'l. In the process of taking measurements for a custom-tailored sail, Dave Baxter pointed out some …
Red Ranger's yankee and stays'l date from the Reagan administration. As we noted in Stitching Failures, they've reached the end of their useful life.
Mr. Baxter, of Baxter Sailmakers, went to Red Ranger to measure her for a properly-designed set of headsails. Custom-design sails include some consultation on sail …
We took Bill, Diane, Sara, Madeline and Ian out for a sail on Red Ranger. Biggest crowd ever; seven folks really packs the cockpit full. But send some of the kids out to be rail meat and there's room in the cockpit. The hard part is reminding them of the …
An important annual ritual is rig inspection. There are a number of good sailboat rig inspection checklists. We had two purposes this year. First, the normal "ounce of prevention", but an important second was finding the source of bits of plastic that had rained down on the deck.
Every sailor …
Cindy Ann is putting coat hooks in a number of the hanging lockers. And she's also putting them under the companionway ladders. You can't have too many hooks. Red Ranger has a great foul-weather gear locker just under the companion-way steps. But without hooks, you have to figure out how …
We tried to make it to the Coan River on Saturday, October 2nd. We made sensible plans. We avoided dawdling. We didn't stay up late the night before.
We had our meals read. We had our departure steps detailed so we wouldn't waste time in the morning wondering if we …
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