Chesapeake rendezvous

[lat 64]

I just wanted to be the first to say thank you for an awesome day to Ed, Joan, Shawn and laura.
Photos will be forthcoming.

[edwardc]

Russ,

It was our pleasure. It really was a great outing today. Everything came together as planned, the sailing was perfect, and the A4 performed flawlessly.

Here's some photos of Ed, Shawn & Russ, wives Joan, Sue, and Laura, Russ enjoying an Arrogant Bastard ale, and Shawn relaxing after trimming the sails to a perfect set.

[CalebD]

So Russ.
The Chesapeake looks pretty nice in the pics posted. You can mostly sail all year round. When are you moving down?
Long trip for your boat though!

Great that you all got together for a sail.

Caleb, up in NY with boat getting hauled 11/4/2012.

[edwardc]

Caleb,

We had a great sail with the winds blowing 15 - 16 today, and out of the WNW so there wasn't much fetch, so no swell or chop. With a reefed main & jib we were humming along at 5 - 6 kts most of the afternoon. And it was my last sail of the season, as I'm having the mast pulled Tuesday for a rebuild because its the last time the crane will be available this fall. Normally I would sail till the end of November.

[Dave Neptune]

Wow, looks like a fun outing!!! Let me guess were there two sets of conversations going on, one re the A-4 and the other about dealing with the A-4 owners (??). I too sort of did my last cruise to the island this season so its time to put the A-4 to bed for a bit.
Only 750 miles this season and about half was the lil beastie below propelling the Volador across the pond. I did a lot more motoring this season. Two weeks ago I did a circumnavigation of the island (Catalina) for Buccaneers day and in the 89 km trip I sailed for only 3 1/2 hours no bloomin wind.

Looking forward to a possible new set of skids for the motor, my steel rails are about to colapse and I'm not sure the 3/4" shaft will support the engine any longer.

Dave Neptune

[sastanley]

Yup..great trip. why are my eyes always closed in every pic!?!?

Ed, how far did we go yesterday...37 miles?

Caleb, I went sailing on Dec 31 last year..I did have the boat "winterized", but un-winterizing the engine is worth a bottle of the pink RV antifreeze for me if we get a 65°F day in December. Supposed to be in the mid-70's this week & no rain all week. I should take the week off and pull & re-bed all my windoze..

[Mo]

Sounds like a great day there guys ... not too shabby.

[sastanley]

Ed's comment about the A4 is interesting, & spot on. It certainly performed flawlessly. I've been on Ed's boat before, but during a summer storm at a marina..so, I didn't get to hear her under way. However, we did the same geek session back then that Russ & Ed did on Sunday while Laura and I were lost trying to find the marina..

A 2:1 reduction V-Drive A4 running at 2,000 RPM sounds very different than a direct drive A4 running at 2,000 RPM. Ed reports his cruising RPM is about 2,000 RPM, and even spinning his big prop, the engine sounds happy and content. My engine does not sound as content at 2,000 RPM as Ed's. I'll tell ya, it may not be real good for the engine, but Ed briefly ran Dolce Vita's A4 to WOT and screaming at 3,100 RPM for a brief period she sure sounded great...Ed reports it unfortunately burns a lot of oil at that RPM.

The point is that with the 2:1 reduction drive & engine speed at 2,000 , she sounded unloaded and just fine, but my motor definitely sounds like it is working harder at 2,000 RPM.

P.S.> Ed, did anyone get a picture of Russ napping on the bow? It might compliment his avatar!

[edwardc]

Originally Posted by sastanley

Ed, how far did we go yesterday...37 miles?

Yep, that's what my GPS log says.

[sastanley]

Ed, did the boat haul/mast pull go without incident today? Thanks again for a great sail!

[Administrator]

Way to go, guys!

We were out today, and the conditions were similar until the wind died about 4:00 pm.

What filter did you use to make the water appear to be blue in the pics?

Bill

[edwardc]

It's scheduled tomorrow at 8am. I'm aboard right now, having spent the day removing the sails and boom, marking all the turnbuckles and pulling the cotter pins, and disconnecting all the mast wiring. I'll spend the night aboard to avoid an extra drive back and forth.

[lat 64]

The day was great!
Yes, Dave, there were two forums on board, but it was good to get Joan and Laura's take on all things sailing. They are all articulate and knowledgable sailors.

I was not napping! I was on the bow on lookout. The Chesapeake is full of mines ya know! I did miss a few while yakking away though. It seems they were really crab pots, but we still had to dodge 'em.
Big fun that evening later when we got even with the crabs at Mike's restaurant as Ed showed us how to bust open the tasty little things all covered in Old Bay spices.

I must mention too that I was presented with a beautiful blue MMI hat(see photos), that no less than Don himself sent along from the boat show.
Thank you Don. I was surprised and touched.

We are also still having a blast in D.C. Being American tourists.


I'm having trouble posting pics from the i-pad, but I will get some up soon.


You can circle the world with my circle of friends.
Cheers to all,
Russ

[edwardc]

Originally Posted by lat 64

I was not napping! I was on the bow on lookout. The Chesapeake is full of mines ya know! I did miss a few while yakking away though. It seems they were really crab pots, but we still had to dodge 'em.

When I pulled the boat out briefly yesterday, I noted a pair of "Pot Tracks" in the slime on the hull. You can see where the one hung-up ahead of the skeg before it popped free when we tacked.

[sastanley]

Ed..is that a full season's worth of growth? Do you clean the bottom during the season at all??

It sure looks like that crab pot hung out around bobbed around on the skeg for a bit.

My bottom is BROWN again, and I just cleaned it about 8 weeks ago.

[edwardc]

Originally Posted by sastanley

Ed..is that a full season's worth of growth? Do you clean the bottom during the season at all??

Yep, that's a full season's worth. And second year on this bottom paint too. All I did in the spring was have it pressure washed, and scraped and sprayed the prop and shaft with Pettit zinc barnacle barrier. Nothing since!

Here's the worst of the hull. I was quite pleased. The yard said "you must use your boat a lot".

[TomG]

Wow Ed, that is pretty amazing! I'm hauling out tomorrow so I'll see how mine did with about 18 months in the water.

What bottom paint are you using? And how did the Pettit Zinc paint work for you?

[Mo]

I agree Ed, that is impressive indeed. I took mine out (you may have seen the video) on Labor Day Weekend to check the keel. There was only a slight coat of slime on her. Did pressure wash it that day before I did a small repair. I`ll likely be coming out for the season this weekend... and hope it is as clean as yours.

[Cool Beans]

Very nice! Would you say "good paint", regular scrubbing", or "regular use" are the secret to keeping it clean?

[edwardc]

Originally Posted by Cool Beans

Very nice! Would you say "good paint", regular scrubbing", or "regular use" are the secret to keeping it clean?

Well, since I used West Marine's relatively inexpensive "CPP Plus" (2 coats), and never scrubbed it during the season, I'd have to go with "regular use". We finished this season with 846 nm on the GPS trip log.

Originally Posted by TomG

And how did the Pettit Zinc paint work for you?

Not as well as as the CPP Plus bottom paint. Most of the prop's blade area stayed clear, but the hub and shaft were a barnacle reef. The shaft was the diameter of the shaft zincs!

[Kelly]

Why am I not surprised that Shawn is wearing sailing gloves?

Looks like you had great conditions and a friendly crowd...although no wind at all would be the perfect day for an A4 conference!

[lat 64]

We just made it out before Sandy shut down the airport. Whew!
Here's a few of my favorite shots from the rendezvous:

. Ed showing us how to make a tight turn while still tied to the dock.

. Shawn showing us his "fancy" gloves while laura fancies a bloody mary.

. A sharp-looking crew.(Sue got the nice hat for the day as it was much cleaner than mine).

. The victory banquet.

. A shot from the airplane of Glaicier Bay Alaska.

Ed, should I sign that pot scrape on the hull?

Russ

[ILikeRust]

Originally Posted by edwardc

Not as well as as the CPP Plus bottom paint. Most of the prop's blade area stayed clear, but the hub and shaft were a barnacle reef. The shaft was the diameter of the shaft zincs!

This is interesting - I used the Pettit zinc spray paint stuff on my prop also, and when I had the hull and prop cleaned last weekend, the diver told me that although the hull had relatively little growth on it, after about 8 months in the water, the prop had a bunch of barnacles on it. He scraped them all off. So it would seem that perhaps that stuff doesn't work quite as well as one might hope.

[Mo]

I put ablative bottom paint on mine. Took the boat out on Labour Day Weekend to check keel after grounding. There was just a slight covering of slime on the bottom and it was in 5 months at that point. Nothing on the prop.

I pressure washed it then and put some touch-ups on areas that showed wear or I pressure washed the paint off. Put more on there (blue). The boat went back in the water for 2 months.

Pulled it yesterday and I had more growth on my rudder and waterline after 2 months than I had after 5....simple reasoning...I pressure washed most of my ablative paint off. Prop was still free of barnacles though.

There might be a fine line in when to clean and when to leave it alone. I was not as impressed yesterday as I was the first time...and we are not talking a boat that sits. It's off the dock almost every day. I think in the spring I'll drive the bottom paint to her pretty heavy.

[sastanley]

nice pics there Russ! Glad you made it home safely.