Pensacola FL Sailing Blog – sailingnightwatch

For those of you who have seen me sailing our dinghy, you could not have missed the look of the sail. It was made using a laminate that was touted as the new Sunbrella. It was much lighter and very strong. The problem is that mold grew in the laminate. You could not was it out with anything. The UV rays also ate it up after about 3-4 years. Our first awning was made of this material. It really got ugly after a couple years.

I let our local sailmaker make a new sail out of Dacron. I spent several hours this weekend sailing the dinghy. Being brand new the sail is as stiff as a board. In fact, it was like sailing with half a sheet of plywood for a sail. The seams also run horizontally vs the old sail in which they ran vertically. The vertical seams gave more shape when hard on the wind. They also gave poor shape when sailing on a reach or down wind. In light air, it would fold up on itself. I may have lost some pointing abilities. As all good sailors, I like to go as fast as I can with good pointing abilities. The water conditions were also a factor in this light air adventure. The sound was choppy and with a dinghy that is 8’ by 4’, fine tuned sail shape is the least of its problems when pounding to weather.

The wife is real happy. The moldy sails were a problem for her.

I once lived in Seattle, WA. It rains there. Not like in the south, but light rain, lots of mist and drizzle. You can actually go out and do things, Lately around here, it rain and rains hard. The rain gage in the yard says about 6 inches in the last week. I wanted to spend the weekend on the hook.

Well Saturday started with rain. We did manage breakfast in the cockpit. A friend of our’s asked if we would like to go to the “Taste of Pensacola Beach” and we decided we would. He was going to take his boat, he is from the dark side and therefore could make it over there in just a few minutes. Well by 11 A.M. it looked like we were going to get dumped on again and decided to go by car. We had a good time, it did not rain, and we got home in time for an afternoon nap.

Sunday we went to early service and got in and out between rain showers. I am so really ready to go sailing. After spending an hour plus looking at the radar and standing on the deck watching clouds, I decided it was time to go.

We were out by 11:30 and were greeted to SSE winds at 12-14 kts. Could not ask for better conditions. We sailed east for a little over an hour and then turned for home. Got tied up at about 2:30 and the rain hit about 2:35. It came with a vengeance. Like Mother Nature was mad that I got to sneak in a short sail. All be it a short sail, it definitely was better then none.

It is that time of year when the new insurance policy comes do. With all I added this year I asked for additional coverage. They said wait till the new policy and we can adjust. Well don’t you know the policy dropped the amount for age to equal what was added this past year. Now I am about $20k off. The way prices of old boats drop, according to the insurance company, I will have to pay someone to take it off my hands in about 10 years. Well by that time Obama will have issued me “the pill” to save everyone money and bother. Anyway, I do not think this one qualifies to get me across the river Stiks. You are right, I do not know how to spell that and I am not going to take the time to look it up.

Anyway, we continue ongoing discussions with the insurance company.

From what I herar, this was not a great weekend to sail. Saturday was light of wind and Sunday started that way and ended with some rough weather.

For me, it was race weekend at Sebring, FL. For those of you not familiar with Sebring International Raceway, it is a WWII training field for bombers. Most of the course is still ran on the 70 year old concrete. The area is as flat as a pool table and the old concrete is as rough as any race track in the world.

We got there and set up Friday afternoon. About time to cook dinner, the storms started. We got our hamburgers cooked and a couple beers drank before we had to seek refuge in the trailer.

Saturday morning started with rain, so we decided not to run the qualifying session. We are ahead in the annual points race and did not want to risk the car since we do not have rain tires. The first sprint race it was still raining. We went out and ran five very slow laps to score some points.

The second sprint race in the afternoon was dry, but the track was very green. That means there was no rubber on the track and it was very slippery. Secondly, with the place being as flat as a pancake, there was standing water along the race line in several corners. We finished second.

Sunday morning was beautiful, after a stormy night. Qualifying was OK, and again we came in second in the morning spring race. We were prepped for the afternoon race when a very heavy storm started coming toward the track. We were packed except for the car and when seeing the storm we just drove the car into the trailer and forgot about the race. We still should be ahead on points. We were happy we left. The track got slammed during the race and a friend who we had our trailer beside was at the track when it hit. He was in his trailer and tood refuge in his truck because the storm was so violent. He said it tore off a small ventilation hatch in the roof of the trailer. The lightening was also severe. Not uncommon for Florida. Some weekend are better then others.

I want to go sailing.