Happy St. Paddy’s Day (race)
March 19, 2014
Quick update and some eye-candy (photos)… We ended up doing an impromptu race this past weekend that wasn’t originally on the calendar. It was one more opportunity to practice that we couldn’t pass up. This was the GBCA St. Patricks Day Regatta. 47 boats. Pursuit start again. Shearwater started last, a full 5 MINUTES after
Pacific Cup Academy #3
January 30, 2014
Winter Racing
January 20, 2014
It’s been a gorgeous January in Texas, giving us some great sailing and racing on Galveston Bay. Right after the New Year, Galveston Bay Cruising Associations (GBCA) hosts an informal Icicle Series on Galveston Bay. The race is a reverse start by PHRF rating. 60-70 boats have turned out each Saturday for some fantastic, relatively
Safety at Sea – Lessons Learned
November 10, 2013
Last weekend Chris & I attended a two-day Safety at Sea Seminar hosted by the San Francisco Yacht Club in beautiful Tiburon, CA. The course is accredited by US Sailing and is a requirement for Double-Handed crews entered in Pacific Cup next year (or 30% of the members of a fully-crewed boat). Even though it
Harvest Moon Regatta
October 28, 2013
A week ago last Thursday was the annual Harvest Moon Regatta from Galveston to Port Aransas (150 miles). As far as I can tell this is the biggest regatta in Texas with over 170 entrants this year. For us, it was fine preparation for Pacific Cup. An opportunity to actually race, sail with the spinnaker
First Race!
September 10, 2013
Last Saturday was a momentous occasion for Shearwater, Chris, and I. We did our first race together. Specifically we did a Rum Race on Galveston Bay hosted by GBCA. Rum races are a somewhat informal Saturday evening pursuit race where boats start in reverse order of their PHRF rating. That is, the slow boats start
Update – Getting settled in Seabrook
September 3, 2013
Shearwater has been at the Seabrook Shipyard off Galveston Bay for almost 2 months now. Even though she is still 3 hours away, that is close enough that we are making regular trips to work on projects and actually do some daysailing. Other than the stifling heat and humidity (we bought a portable LG AC
Florida to Texas – 96 hours of wheel time
July 7, 2013
After bidding our friends who had come to spend a few days in the Florida Keys with us good-bye, we returned to Shearwater and quickly put her in passage-making mode: dinghy stowed, hatches sealed, safety gear accessible, jacklines and harnesses ready. We left Marathon at 4pm, at high tide since the access channel was on
Porto to Gibraltar – Round 2
April 17, 2013
Two weeks ago in conjunction with the Easter Holiday, we flew to Porto with plans to sail Shearwater to Gibraltar where she would meet up with a SevenStar yacht transport ship to make her way to Florida. Unfortunately, the weather gods did not get the message that spring had arrived, and a strong south wind