Commentary.....mmmmmm!

Is this a blog or a sounding board...what the hell's a blog? I usually write in my glob fater a wef drikns.

The priorities are:

-keep the boat off the bottom (it's very shallow where we sail)

-have fun

-win races

I've owned a  C&C 34 for about 11 years but haven't raced it at all (much). It was my "cottage" for most of those 11 years, and as such I wasn't really in a position to race it....and didn't want to. I raced on my friend's boats and have done  KWRW for 4 years. After an amicable divorce, where I got the C&C 34 and all the debt, I decided I wanted to race again.

I was really missing racing, but I wanted to get back into it with a "race boat". There's a pretty good J/29 fleet around Shediac with some excellent sailors so I considered buying a J/29. I figured it would take 10 to sail a J/29 so I kept looking.....getting crew is a bit of problem. After some research I thought a Henderson 30 would be perfect....race with a core crew of 4 to 5.....and supplement  with some rail-riders to round it out to about 10.

HOLY-SHIT was I wrong!!!   I love my "Girlfriend" but in heavy air (actually any air) she can make mince-meat out of 4 to 5 "experts". I've had more spectacular wipe-outs, more crashes across the cockpit, more near sinkings (only one actually.....in my mind....we only laid on our side for 90 seconds)...Carla said she was never coming back... but did. Actually Carla's threatened not to come back more than once.....I figure if Carla doesn't come back then the GF is probably for sale...or on the bottom.  I've had so much fun that I'm hooked....Carla too!

I'm in to racing for the long-haul...stay tuned.

March 21st, 2008. Did the Heineken Regatta on Donnybrook....amazing! Can't do the Rolex...no money and no vacation. Trying to get some boat jobs done but the weather is not co-operating, Starting to recruit crew.....know anyone that will commit?

January 24th,  2008. I'm still being remiss in updating this.....euphemism for lazy? Well I did the Donnybrook trip...garage is better but not quite where I'd like it to be. The Donnybrook trip was amazing....I'm good to go again...see the Donnybrook section of my Website. Can't wait for the Heineken and Rolex Regattas!! Picked up the diesel for Mystic...looks the same. Apparently it works better now. Bought a Stack-Pak main for Mystic and am getting a reef put in the main of GF. Oh yeah...have a new GF....not the boat....old one's calling me again...not the boat. Toasted my Rolex in St Maarten...didn't have the crown thingy screwed in tight...got it full of seawater. I've had it for 18 years...daddyooo bought it for me, so have to get it fixed. I could buy 20 Timex's for the price of the repair bill! Thinking about winning the lottery or barring that, quitting my job.

November 21st, 2007. Well, I'm not sure what to say. I've been a bit (a lot) remiss in keeping the commentary up to date! The summer weather basically sucked...rain...no heat...lots of squalls. Having said that, I got caught in most of the squalls, so at least I was out sailing! Raced lots, but most of my regular crew didn't race with me...I'm starting to get a complex. We were out on Mystic quite a bit but finished the season in late August when the motor quit just outside of Summerside...got towed...and towed...and then towed some more. The motor's getting something done to it at some engine re-builder...actually I could explain, in depth, but this is a sailing site. I considered selling my GF but I love her soooo much.....actually if we can't get a program together for 2008 she will be for sale (see June 7th entry...we didn't go up...just held our own). Another "actually"....getting the sails repaired and reef points put in the main...recruiting a bunch of beautiful young chicks as rail-raiders....sign up now!

The only other news I have is that I'm trying to get a ride on the custom Santa Cruz 73 "Donnybrook" to St.Maarten. Stay tuned. If that doesn't happen I'm going to clean my garage.

P.S. Had a great bunch from Toronto stay with me this summer for the J-24 Nationals...they placed 3rd!

June 7th, 2007. First race was last night. The good news is that we can only go up from here. On the first start we were 58 seconds early...I guess we were two seconds off what we thought was our start, so it would have been a good start if we hadn't been a minute ahead of ourselves....can't explain that at all. In fairness all the "A" boats were early but we missed the general recall and then were late for the re-start. It pretty much went down-hill from there. I attribute it to a bit of rustiness on everyone's part. It was still better than a good day at the office.

May 31st, 2007. Both boats finally splashed-down on May 18th. OMG it was cold and wet. "Mystic" has been out a couple of times but I still have a little bit of work to do on "Girlfriend". Maiden sail for 2007 is a practice scheduled for Sunday at 10am...racing starts next week...yahoo! Frost forecast for tonight...good grief! There's some interest in Chester Race Week so that may come together in August. Stay tuned for updated photographs.

May 2nd, 2007. Bottom paint is on "GF". Weather still sucks, but it's coming together. Have a commitment from most of the "GF" crew, so it looks like pretty much all the races are a go. "GF" will definitely be in Charlottetown for Race Week as enough crew have committed.....staying at the Inns on Great George but the 21st is a problem....damn Aerosmith concert! Will probably go to Aerosmith concert...crash later on "GF", uncomfortable as she (GF) is. If you want to crew for Charlottetown Race Week, let me know.....we're not full yet. Charlottetown for Race Week is shaping up to be a classic....number of boats coming from Halifax including "Trouble", "Third Wave" and "Valour".

Haven't touched Mystic yet!

April 14th, 2007. Another season is upon us, but the weather's not co-operating as far as getting ready. Did a buy a few toys for GF over the winter....carbon-fibre tiller extension, "Fast-Pins", among others. Also switching to black VC-Offshore bottom paint. Used white Tri-Lux II in 2006 but wasn't happy with either the look or the anti-fouling qualities. I thought the white would look good but it just looked dirty all summer. Don't know if the VC-Offshore will be any faster but it is designed for high performance boats.

Raced in KWRW 2007 on a Melges 24 and picked up a few sport-boat tips. Biggest tip was that we were sailing the Henderson way to high on the down-wind legs.....chasing speed as they called it. Sure we were sailing fast, but the extra distance was killing us. I'll be looking to the navigator to watch the VMG! Watch for us to sail lower this year. We'll also be sailing with a smaller kite this year unless the wind is aft of the quarter....it's fine to sail fast, but if you're wiping out all the time you're not really going fast.

Jeez, it's still snowing!