Some sailing imagery

Thanks to Kim and Todd, some nice sailing images and video...

An impressive thunderstorm front off to the north on our way in to port.

A short video of Mercedes upwind in 14 knots of breeze
with a venerable aged kevlar/mylar tri-radial #3
and a ripped-up delaminated twice-retired pentex 3DL mainsail
-- sailing at 7 knots!

St. Joe River Yacht Club racing

An organizational meeting for the St. Joseph River Yacht Club racing program was held yesterday.  The meeting was chaired by race committee lead Jim Schrager and fleet vice commodore Louie Trembly.  They introduced the on-the-water race committee for this year: Vickie Frees, Skip Heavener, Jim Scholz, and Sue Veersma.  Ken Zimmerman has retired from active duty on the race committee and received a lot of applause in thanks for many years of service.  

The racing schedule was announced, with one change from the preliminary one - the May 17 race will be a shakedown race instead of scored as race #1.  To allow this, one race was removed from the end of the summer.  The Mercedes master schedule (first link under the Schedule tab) is up to date.

Unfortunately, key SJRYC events that count in the club scoring, like the Rhumbline Regatta and PHRF race to Michigan City, are in conflict with the significant Lake Michigan races - the National Offshore One Design (NOOD) regatta and the Verve Cup, both hosted by Chicago Yacht Club.  One of the stated goals of SJRYC racing is to prepare sailors for events at higher levels, but they disincent skippers from participating. 

Course marks are going to be set today, in the same locations as last year.  When we are on the water, we will go find them and check the accuracy of their GPS position.

Happy racing, mates!

Sail numbers

Here are the sail numbers for Mercedes, Kim!

Ready to sail

Finally, ready to go!  

Brought all the safety gear and some sails on board.  With Dave's help, removed some pre-bend from the mast and did a static tune of the rig.  Last step tonight was taping up all the exposed cotter pins and rings.  

Mercedes is as ready to sail as I can make her!

The weather forecast shows generally fair skies, warmer temperatures, and lighter winds upcoming.  Bring it!

Launched

Mercedes was launched yesterday!  She's happy to be back in the water.  Safely tied up in her slip at West Basin Marina now.  This marina is well protected and picturesque, and does not have the river current of Anchor's Way Marina!  

Karen and I really appreciate the help by Kim, Dave, and Brett in sorting out dock lines, cleaning, stowing gear, and rigging yesterday!

Look for your sailing gear!  Plan is to go sailing this weekend.

Awesome Crew:-)

Pirate meeting.

Beer can racing!

Thanks to Scuttlebutt Sailing News, Spinsheet magazine, and Brett (who forwarded it - many thanks!), here are some reasons for joining in the comradery and casual competition of weeknight beer can racing (think St. Joe River Yacht Club Wednesday nights):

• You've been cooped up in stale air since November, which has made you pasty and cranky.
• Sailing is great for balance, so you can probably get a doctor's note to call it physical therapy.
• It's a great excuse to leave work early.
• You're driving your spouse crazy talking about sailing while doing nothing but obsess about winning Musto gear and staring at sailing videos on your phone.
• You haven't seen your friends since you drank all those Painkillers at the sailboat show and need to catch up on gossip.

All this fun starts on May 17!

Origin of the name

Mercedes isn't named after a car!  Mercedes is the name of the fiancee of Edmond Dantes in Alexandre Dumas's classic novel "The Count of Monte Cristo."  One of Karen's and my favorite books, it's a powerful story of loyalty, commitment, vengeance, perseverance, and forgiveness.  It's the source of her nickname - Mercedes (and mine - Cristo), and inspired the name of the sailboat.  

Some notable quotations from the book:

• "One's work may be finished someday, but one's education never."
• "Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close, always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart."
• Abbe Faria: "Here is your final lesson - do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence. God said, Vengeance is mine."
  Edmond Dantes: "I don't believe in God."
  Abbe Faria: "It doesn't matter. He believes in you."
• Fernand Mondego: "What happened to your mercy?"
  Edmond Dantes: "I'm a count, not a saint."

Re-christened

Thanks to Nate, Ted, and Sayer for the skilled hard work they contributed, the topsides are compounded, polished, and waxed!  And, the boat has her new name applied, and a hailing port, and registration numbers.  The hull is so smooth and shiny, the boat looks fast just standing still!  Great job!!

Compounding/polishing is fun

Gotta get moving if the boat's gonna launch!  Nate and I tackled compounding/polishing the topsides of the hull today.  We did a good job, and the gelcoat looks beautiful.  At least one side of the boat does!  That's how much we got done in 4 hours.  Need more fresh volunteers to work on the rest of the hull.  Your participation has benefits - you won't need to go to the gym later for your upper body workout!    

Thanks for your help, Nate!  I really appreciate it.

Seminar on sail control at Macatawa Bay YC

I'm planning to attend this seminar at Macatawa Bay Yacht Club in Holland this Wednesday, April 12.  If anyone is interested in coming along, let me know.  Info and preregistration below...

SAIL CONTROL FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE - April 12, 2017, 6:30 PM, Quantum Sails Seminar Series at Macatawa Bay Yacht Club, 2157 S. Shore Dr., Macatawa, MI.  Farley Fontenot is known for both his racing and cruising expertise.  Join him and the Quantum team at Macatawa Bay Yacht Club for a detailed presentation on sail control that will benefit you no matter your favorite type of sailing.  No cost, preregistration required, seats are limited: http://tinyurl.com/17QuantumMBYC.

Work of art

It took some doing, but the Martec prop is finally off the prop shaft and the new Flexofold prop is on.  Flexofold is a Danish company that makes great marine propellers with just about the lowest drag characteristics under sail, and among the best in motoring performance in forward and reverse.  The blades are geared together, so one blade cannot drop down unexpectedly and create a lot of drag.  This one is the correct size for the engine and transmission and won't overdrive and cavitate like the other one tended to do.  And this propeller is a work of art.  It's beautiful!