Canoe-a-polo!

Well,

I have finally got my boat out of Hansen rigging, and it looks sweeet! I can't wait to try out the new lines... and I almost had a chance... but of course the new seat wasn't done. Last weekend was the Richmond Yacht Club's Tottaly Dinghy, and cause my boat was out of service, I used the fleet charter boat. Unfortunetly i was the only ic on the line. But i did managae to get some good practice in. the wind was light, so i experiemented with diffrent ways to do tacks and jibes. most of the time i ended up in some odd position, and almost capsizing. i also worked on the tried and true methods, and my tack success rate went up. i felt good. this weekend im going up to the boat builing shop and am going to try to finish the seat. i cant wait to sail my own boat. i miss the old dog.

Work, work, and more work.

Well, I have been working really hard to try to get the Dog back out on the water. The boat it self is at Hansens rigging, getting all the lines redone. Im also building a new seat to replace the broken one. And in between I have been doing some work to get some spare change... repairing 1000 sq.ft of spinnaker is no fun... but worth it!

Eyedeens! (eighteens)

The last couple of days I have been sailing Aussie 18's on the cityfront! Boy oh boy has it been some serious fun!... that is till we broke our mast! Oh well. Here are some Pics for your ammusment. (Im the one in the red)

DOH!

Well, went sailing today and had some good practice. Del went out with me and we sailed down the Richmond channel, turned around and sailed upwind. Had very good boat speed on Del, staying ahead of him the entire beat. Then we turned the corner, reached off towards Redrock.....and that's when the real fun started. I was out on the end of the seat and sailed over a wave and that's when I bounced the plank over the top of the thing. I knew something was wrong when the seat bounced up a little TOO high. As soon as Newton's Law of Gravity kicked in, the seat broke! Sailing back in was a great challenge but somehow I managed. It's rather unfortunate though... but what can you do? I'll have to build a new seat. Mmmm carbon work!! Oh joy, oh joy. Until then, I will be sailing the fleet charter boat....

Oh and don't worry, I'll post pictures of the carnage soon.

Some important info - Donation Disclaimer

So I have realized that a few issues regarding donations might arise, so I would like to address them now. First, if I do not make the sufficient funds or for some reason I am not able to go to Australia, all donations will be returned. Second, I also realized that some people might feel a bit uneasy just handing me money, so I am going to set up a bank account that will not be touched for anything other then the trip to Australia - and again, any funds not utilized for this trip will be returned to you - a money back guarantee if you will!

IC North Americans and further shenanigans

Sorry for the radio silence, but it's been tough trying to work hard manual labor (for a plane ticket to zee east coast), being on the laser race team at the yacht club, working at a sail loft, and trying to be somewhat social. I just haven't had as much time to keep you guys posted as I would like. But finally, an update.





First,

I've been spending my weekends sailing my boat. Practicing on tacks, gybes, and pitch poling on reaches :-). I have also done some work on the old dog - replaced some string and made my boat water tight (so I hope!).





Second,


The manual labor I've been doing was for a plane ticket to the East coast for the IC North Americans in beautiful Ram Island, Marion, MA. I managed to scrape some money together last minute by working some construction for Del. It wasn't easy, but I got my act together and on Thursday, July 19t, I was on a plane to unfamiliar waters. It was awesome though! I met some amazing canoe sailors and all of them were really nice people. I also saw some amazing canoes and sailed in some awesome conditions (15-18 knots of wind and nice chop (just like home!)). The racing was close, with 13 boats on the line. Unfortunately, I was plagued with some gear issues - I did not have my own boat out there, instead was graciously lent one. I had to drop out of two races and I had to limp to the finish of one race putting me in last place (what can you expect with a unfamiliar boat?). But after six races, I came in a respectable 9th place. Iwas honored to sail against some serious canoe heads. Several times I managed to dial in and started to move very quickly, which was rather hard with a boat that was unknown to me. But all in all, I felt good about my results and had a lot of fun.

On your marks, get set, CAMPAIGN!

And it begins, sending info to as many people as possible. Hopefully somebody will find some interest. Oh joy!