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Aug. 16th, 2004 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anigoHidey-Ho
Yes, it is I.
Or is it me.
Either way, Here I be.
Hey, fun rhyme.
Anyway. I'm back. And if I own it, it either hurts or is bruised beyond recognition.
Damn I love sailing.
Race week was fun. Ain't it always. First two races were kind of low on the excitement meter. Three marks, two spinnaker sets, few tacks... yawn. But we came in 6th out of 17 boats for both races so that's respectable if not fantastic. Third race was better, 5 marks, a bunch of sets, a couple of reefs, some decent wind... yee-haw! Saturday's race, on the other hand, went off the scale on the excite-o-meter. It BLEW. We're talking wind here, people. Got to the first mark, the foredeck guy was on the deck preparing to open the bag to launch the spinnaker when we hit a huge wave. The foredeck went under water and the bag opened up by itself. A second huge wave grabbed the spinnaker and hauled it under the boat. The spinnaker was attached to the boat on three different places so it acted as one big-ass sea anchor and caused us to come to a complete and grinding halt. We had full sails at the time, so the pressure on the sails was tremendous. Then the spinnaker worked its way to the back of the boat and wrapped itself around the rudder. So now, not only were we not moving while sporting a full set of sails, we had no helm either. No stearage, tonnes of pressure on the sails, big winds... it wasn't pretty fans. It took forever to get the sails down - trying to get sails up or down under pressure is pretty darn impossible - but eventually we did. However, we still had the spinnaker wrapped around the rudder under the boat. The foredeck guy ended up stripping off to slmost nothing, donning flippers and going under the boat to untangle the mess. The masticated spinnaker was hauled on deck, the sails were put back up, and we finished the race. And, we didn't come in last, which was both nice, and a bitch, since if we didn't come in last while taking 20 minutes to fix our issues, we would have run a pretty darn good race had we not had any issues at all.
Oh well. While most of the crew was pretty bummed, I was elated. Not because the spinnaker was torn, or anything, but because when it happened everything went like clockwork to get us back in the race. In a situation that could have become pretty darn dangerous, all the crew kept their heads and just proved further that in moments of adversity, we can really kick ass.
There will be pictures to follow. Promise.
There wasn't any racing yesterday, but we went out for a cruise around the bay. Winds were light and the water was warm enough to dangle feet. The sky went from sunny to dramatic black clouds and back to sunny with regularity. On the trip back to the marina the wind died and we just floated around for a while. The water was like molten lead and there was a monstrous rainbow overhead. Perfect ending to a perfect week.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, a new addition to my journal.
While I was on vacation I stopped at a yard sale and found this FANTASTIC book. It's called This Diary Will Change Your Life. Inside it has something you need to do every day. Some of the things are fun, some are just plain silly, some are dangerous... Every day I'll post the suggestion for the day. It's up to you to decide if you want to do it or not, and if you do, please tell me about it.
Phrenology Day
Today have your head examined.
Phrenology is the science of identifying character traits from the shape of the brain, itself deductible of course from the shape of the skull. As modern-day brain imaging techniques have confirmed beyond doubt, many of the brain's main functions are indeed localized. We have yet to confirm the exactitude of early phrenologists' categories, but in the meantime why not judge for yourself Simply run your fingers over your skull and refer any unusual protuberances to the diagram below.
That's all for now, folks!
Yes, it is I.
Or is it me.
Either way, Here I be.
Hey, fun rhyme.
Anyway. I'm back. And if I own it, it either hurts or is bruised beyond recognition.
Damn I love sailing.
Race week was fun. Ain't it always. First two races were kind of low on the excitement meter. Three marks, two spinnaker sets, few tacks... yawn. But we came in 6th out of 17 boats for both races so that's respectable if not fantastic. Third race was better, 5 marks, a bunch of sets, a couple of reefs, some decent wind... yee-haw! Saturday's race, on the other hand, went off the scale on the excite-o-meter. It BLEW. We're talking wind here, people. Got to the first mark, the foredeck guy was on the deck preparing to open the bag to launch the spinnaker when we hit a huge wave. The foredeck went under water and the bag opened up by itself. A second huge wave grabbed the spinnaker and hauled it under the boat. The spinnaker was attached to the boat on three different places so it acted as one big-ass sea anchor and caused us to come to a complete and grinding halt. We had full sails at the time, so the pressure on the sails was tremendous. Then the spinnaker worked its way to the back of the boat and wrapped itself around the rudder. So now, not only were we not moving while sporting a full set of sails, we had no helm either. No stearage, tonnes of pressure on the sails, big winds... it wasn't pretty fans. It took forever to get the sails down - trying to get sails up or down under pressure is pretty darn impossible - but eventually we did. However, we still had the spinnaker wrapped around the rudder under the boat. The foredeck guy ended up stripping off to slmost nothing, donning flippers and going under the boat to untangle the mess. The masticated spinnaker was hauled on deck, the sails were put back up, and we finished the race. And, we didn't come in last, which was both nice, and a bitch, since if we didn't come in last while taking 20 minutes to fix our issues, we would have run a pretty darn good race had we not had any issues at all.
Oh well. While most of the crew was pretty bummed, I was elated. Not because the spinnaker was torn, or anything, but because when it happened everything went like clockwork to get us back in the race. In a situation that could have become pretty darn dangerous, all the crew kept their heads and just proved further that in moments of adversity, we can really kick ass.
There will be pictures to follow. Promise.
There wasn't any racing yesterday, but we went out for a cruise around the bay. Winds were light and the water was warm enough to dangle feet. The sky went from sunny to dramatic black clouds and back to sunny with regularity. On the trip back to the marina the wind died and we just floated around for a while. The water was like molten lead and there was a monstrous rainbow overhead. Perfect ending to a perfect week.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, a new addition to my journal.
While I was on vacation I stopped at a yard sale and found this FANTASTIC book. It's called This Diary Will Change Your Life. Inside it has something you need to do every day. Some of the things are fun, some are just plain silly, some are dangerous... Every day I'll post the suggestion for the day. It's up to you to decide if you want to do it or not, and if you do, please tell me about it.
Today have your head examined.
Phrenology is the science of identifying character traits from the shape of the brain, itself deductible of course from the shape of the skull. As modern-day brain imaging techniques have confirmed beyond doubt, many of the brain's main functions are indeed localized. We have yet to confirm the exactitude of early phrenologists' categories, but in the meantime why not judge for yourself Simply run your fingers over your skull and refer any unusual protuberances to the diagram below.
That's all for now, folks!