I'm falling down on the blog job here. No updates recently. I'm on a killer project. Plus, I spent a week sailing. Check out the story here.

4:56:50 PM    

Last sail of 2004 was New Year's Eve day. The wind was perfect. It was a bit chilly but uncharacteristially warm for late December. I was good in a long sleeve t-shirt. Christy came with us for this sail which was also uncharacteristic. We sailed from 121 to Sneaky Pete's and back. The return trip was in record time and on the same tack the whole way. We sailed her right into the slip.

I was impressed with my kids--they didn't get bored (or at least didn't express it) like they sometimes do. My son actually took a short nap in the v-berth. My daughter was excited that she got to take the helm for a little bit. Neither of them love sailing enough to suggest it on their own but given the choice between going and not they always choose to go. I think a lot of that has to do with wanting to be with their Dad and their Grandpa. As they get older it'll be fun to see if they catch the bug.

9:09:24 PM    

Summer Sailstice was a lot of fun. I invited some friends to join me on the lake to celebrate the longest day of the year. We hit the water at about 10:00 or so to try to beat the heat. Unfortunately, this time of year in Texas, you aren't going to win that battle. We were dripping with sweat before we left the slip. And, the 17-20 mph winds that had been forecasted were nowhere to be found. They were more like 0 to 7.

We had a little bit of excitement starting off. This was my first time alone in the boat with crew full of first- or second-timers. I should have taken a little more time checking the rigging before we left the dock. When I asked for the main sail to be raised, the boom goes swinging to windward detached from the mast. What made it worse was that the bolt rope on the main hadn't been fed into the groove in the mast so the whole thing was swinging with the halyard as the pivot point. Luckily there was no wind.

I quickly realized that the downhaul had come uncleated. That allowed the boom to rise out of its groove and detach. Prior to this day, that downhaul didn't look like it had been touched in 30 years but my Dad just threaded a new main sheet so maybe it came loose during that or maybe it just worked itself free.

In any case, no one took a boom in the face and we quickly recovered. After that we sailed a bit before heaving to and enjoying a refreshing dip. We actually did that a couple of times in between breezes. All in all, a below-average day of sailing but a great day of hanging out with friends on the boat.

9:48:12 PM    

Open Source meets the Open Ocean. Even the lobster fishermen get it...

Seafaring the Smart Way. The mariner's life has always been fraught with danger, especially in the treacherous North Atlantic. This will never change, but 'smart buoys' -- which contain information about sea conditions -- can buy a sailor valuable time. Michelle Delio reports from Portland, Maine. [Wired News]

Now, if only we could drop a couple of those buoys in Lake Lewisville, we'd be all set.

10:17:24 PM    

Got the motor back on Dad's boat last weekend and sailed for the first time in a while. The problem with the motor was that over the summer, the gas had moved in and out of the carb, eventually gumming it up. The guy who worked on it said to run the engine at least once a month for 10 minutes at idle and 10 minutes in gear. He also gave Dad some sort of fuel additive that is supposed to help. Another boat ownership lesson learned.

My son is becoming quite the sailor. He's a lot more confident walking around the foredeck than he was initially. He's also been put in charge of winch covers, fenders, and the sail bag so he's happy about that.

7:45:51 AM