Sunday July 27, 2008

Sunday July 27, 2008

Low 80's F thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon.

Late morning sail with Katherine.

A slow departure with light winds 5 knots or less , out of the southwest, to Darby Creek, then winds pick up 10 to 15 for a speedy beam reach along the shipping channel side of Little Tinicum.

Storm clouds build over Delaware County and NWS on WX issues storm warning for Chester and Delaware County with 2" rain per hour.

Rather than take the long way around the island, come about and return to Darby Creek with building winds out of the west. The wind eases as we pass Piaseki, pole out the genoa, sail wing on wing with good speed.

The front approaches, drop the genoa, winds build to 30 knots out of the north in minutes, to close to the seaplane base slips to head into the the wind to drop the mainsail, so set a fisherman reef, mainsail against the spreaders and sail with the wind on port beam.
Boat speeds builds above 7 knots and we race to the marina.

Gusts develop to 40 knots (PHL reports 43), turn to windward past the marina and off the former Westinghouse sluice gate, mainsheet in as we come to windward, drop the main halyard and Katherine flakes the mainsail on the boom and secures with sail ties. Timing was good, the manoever was complete well clear of the mud flat.

Motor into the marina with 30 knot wind and 40 knots gusts.

Plenty of windage on the side of the boat. Hold the boat in the slip with motor on forward gear at idle, while we secure the dock lines, then the deluge begins.

Saturday July 26, 2008

Saturday July 26, 2008
Mid 80's F, 10 knots from southwest with gust to 15.

Morning close hauled sail at 3.5 knots to the casino then on a beam reach at 2 to 3 knots back to the marina against an ebb tide.



Historic marker at Governor Printz Park in Tinicum.

Sailing past Governor Printz park, from left to right;
Piasecki Aircraft, developer of the twin rotor helicopter (Chinook)
West End Boat Club
Corinthian Yacht club
Govenor Printz park
Lagoon marina and night club.

Sunday July 20, 2008

Sunday July 20, 2008

Mid 90's F, winds 10 knots out off the southwest with gusting to 15.

Around Little Tinicum counter clockwise at flood after slack in an informal race against a new Hunter. I take the shoal wide at lower end of Little Tinicum in at least 9ft of water but slow and close to due southwest, the Hunter cuts across the shoal close to a bearing directly south with good speed.

I begin, once in the main shipping channel, to close the distance at 4.5 knots, but the Hunter staying close to the south shore of the island gets the 15 knot gusts at the east end of Little Tinicum by the airport and surges ahead. I pick up the gusts at the airport as the Hunter goes through the narrow channel between Mifflin Dike and the east shoal of Little Tinicum against the flood tide and into the wind. I stay in the main shipping channel until past the shoal before heading north on a beam reach to Mifflin Dike.

The flood tide is beginning peek flow as I enter the narrow channel, with the wind now out of the west and my heading due west, but I am not willing to risk a tack onto the shoal to gain forward speed, Motor on and drop the jib until I am clear of the shoal, then motor off and jib up again for a slow tack back to the marina.

The gulls are lined up on the shoal feasting on the fingerlings as the tide rises. The Hunter with a shallow draft drop or wing keel, anchors for lunch at the sandy beach on the Pennsylvania side of the island protected by the shoal.

The Hunter had a better sailor and faster boat.

Up river in the Tinicum Range, south side of Little Tinicum.

A tug pushing down river in the Tinicum Range off Thompson Point.

To clear the west end shoal of Little Tinicum I need to stay west of a line between Thompson Point and the bascule bridge on Darby Creek until close to the main channel.

Sunday July 13, 2008

Sailing with Vanessa, low 90's F with 5 to 10 knots from the south with gusting to 15.

A float plane was getting ready to take off at the Corinthian Yacht Club, so motor down to Darby Creek with jib. Float planes due to restrictions on movement have priority over other vessels on the water, so we stay close to boat slips on our way down river until the plane took-off into the south wind coming from the NJ side.

Good steady winds take us on a beam reach up to 4 knots to Harrahs Casino then tack through the wind and beam reach over 4 knots at times against the ebb tide back to the marina.

Thursday July 11, 2008

Afternoon sail, mid 80's F, with 10 knots wind out of the west, and gusting to 15. Slack after low tide.

Close hauled at 4 to 5 knots to Chester, then close reach back to Essington.

Tuesday July 8, 2008

Tuesday July 8, 2008
Afternoon sail at Essington, low 90's F high humidity, 5 to 10 knots breeze out of the southwest.
A dock neighbor sailing under spinnaker.

Tuesday July 1, 2008

Tuesday July 1, 2008
Mid 80's F and 5 to 10 knots out off the southwest.

The sail track entry on the mast was located for the old sail slug locations, but this was to high above the goose neck for the lower slug of the new sail, so I made a new aluminum track slide retainer for the new sail slugs with an entry just above the goose neck. Now when I drop sails the slugs fall into the retainer track, and are stopped with a track stop slug, making it a lot easier to stack the sail on the boom and to hoist the sail.

Finished fine tuning the track entry with a file and went for an early afternoon sail. The new mainsail reaches well and makes good progress within 30 deg of the wind, but the old headsail produces weather helm on any wind between a-beam and bow, the former mainsail was porous enough to underpower the boat and produced less weather helm. Until I replace the headsail, sailing bow to wind will be with mainsail only.

Came about and raced with the wind off the aft starboard quarter against an ebb tide wing on wing with the jib headsail balanced starboard and mainsail on port.
A dock neighbor also with an older boat from the 70's, was crew on a larger race boat a few weeks ago and lost 2 finger in a winch. The accident left him with the thumb and first two fingers of the right hand, so today was his first sail to see how to adapt his sailing.