Keeping Our Sanity

How do we keep it together on land when we are away from s/v Honey Ryder? It's not easy but s/v Riot helps.




















Sunday turned out to be a perfect fall day made even better because we were able to get in a little sailing time on s/v Riot.

Check Out My New Sailing Shoes

Not! Although, we have seen a surprising number of these type of shoes teetering around the the boat show in Annapolis. Generally it's late in the afternoon and the shoes are worn by some obvious deck fluff or even a non-sailing chick that is equally stacked on the top end as well. What?! They have to be to balanced on both ends to keep from heeling over. It's basic sailing balance people! We usually witnessed the wearer of these type shoes parading onto a mega yacht only to see her later ridding piggyback off said yacht on the back some male sailor/sailor want to be...shoes in hand. I guess it's sort of a reefing down maneuver...so to speak.


















These are my current sailing shoes. Keens are great sailing shoes since the soles are non-marking and they protect "this little piggy" (toe/toes) from sailing toe injuries. If you have ever caught or banged your toe on something you know protection is a good think for your piggies.


















However they do give one funny tan marks on your feet.


















Weird tan lines don't bother me in the least but I did catch a customer doing a double take at my feet and the tan marks the other day. The look on her face told me that she was curious and even perhaps a tad concerned but just didn't know how to bring it up in a business setting. She never did. *I bet she washed her hands after we shook hands upon my departure. :)

**Of course the first set of shoes is REQUIRED footwear for powerboat chicks at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Just so you know.

Sailing Instruction Tools

Cap10 Tom put together the above so we can practice our knots around the house as we watch TV or for me....while I am on conference calls!


















This model sailboat gets used at the Sailing Sisters class each winter.



















Above is our latest tool we are testing out. We whipped this out Friday night over a couple of adult drinks. See the actual lab pic below.

More Commodore's Cup

It was blowing.

Never a Dull Momement - Point Jude Knockdown

Lake Perry never disappoints on holiday weekends in terms of sheer entertainment value. Usually it's powerboaters. Sometimes it's a scary tale with a tragic end - "Powerboat crashes into houseboat late at night, one dead." Other times it's just a funny "hold my beer and watch this" incident. Many of those have captivated us on the lake weekends through the years.


















Labor Day 2011 - Fellow sailors Chuck and Ester have the sickness like us....in that they have many boats including a kewl little Point Jude day sailor. They like to get into it and sail around inside the marina just like Cap10 Tom on our MacVay Minuet s/v Riot.



















Chuck is an excellent sailor. Tops in handling both his C36 and the Point Jude.


















As mentioned in a previous blog (Commodore's Cup) it was breezy. If I have the story right - Chuck convinced some of the powerboaters on C-Dock to get off their beer can butts and go sailing with him in the Point Jude. His novice crew was two other guys and two little girls. Life jackets were on. They happily zoomed around in the marina - whizzing past our dock several times. And then it happened - a knockdown (my term). A big gust of wind, the crew slid around and down onto the mainsheet cleat, unable to release the main to spill wind, over they went close to A-Dock.



















Our dock (B-Dock) immediately jumped to action. The little girls were out and in towels in 2 mins. Then we started working to be sure the guys were safe and the Point Jude secure. C-Dock was alerted and brought in a SeaDoo to assist. Wildlife and Parks circled but was NO HELP WHAT SO EVER - as usual!
The SeaDoo pulled the Point Jude to the end of our dock (B-Dock) and secured it and then the work to right her began.



















It took an entire dock/marina village to get her righted and then bailed out. But we all worked together and got her floating again. Chuck managed to smile and joke through it all. Ester came over in their little runabout with supplies - towels, tools, mental support and the all important beverage support!


















Chuck and Ester have been on the flip side many times through the years, assisting boaters. Hell - they helped us in earlier this season, when we were crew on the Lord Nelson and the engine conked out. * YES - there is a Lord Nelson on our little lake. YES, that is a heavy duty, ocean going boat with a full keel that tacks like a semi-truck....thus making it very difficult to get back into our marina under sail ALONE - Chuck and Ester assisted us with a tow the final stretch to the dock. But that is a story for another time.

ASA Instructors

Cap10 Tom and I set out in 2004 to get ASA (American Sailing Association) certifications, mainly for the knowledge. There are many levels.


















We selected a school in Florida, quizzing out of the "ASA 101 Keelboat", taking "ASA 103 Coastal Cruising" and "ASA 104 Bareboat". And PASSING them all!


















KC Sailing opened in our area so one cold, wintery March we took "ASA 105 Coastal Navigation"- what a mind bender that was for this little sailing chick on the prairie! Irrigation lakes and itty bitty state park lakes in Kansas don't have a lot of ATONS (Aids to Navigation System).
























As we built on our sailing skills officially through ASA, we continued to build through practical experience on our C30 Distant Drum as well as bareboat trips, deliveries and on various friends boats ( s/v Stolen Child and s/v Gratitude). "ASA 108 Passage Making" (Norfolk to Bermuda) was a big jump, a leap really in our sailing education and skills.



















Then we begin to think about teaching sailing. ASA seemed like the logical place to start. Bruce at KC Sailing was gun-ho and an instructor class was scheduled. It was intense. Three hardcore days of classroom and on the water instruction to become instructors. The written test was a bitch! We passed!



















We started teaching "Intro to Sailing", "ASA 101 Keelboat" as well as Private Lessons all for KC Sailing. We are now well into our second season teaching sailing. The reward has been terrific. We have met so many interesting people. Many students start with the" Intro to Sailing" class and go on to the next level, getting their "ASA 101 Keelboat" Certification with us. Some students already have sailboats. Others buy their first boat after sailing with us. It's so much fun to be able to share our passion and excitement for sailing with others. In turn, our students get fired up about sailing and we feed on that excitement. Several past students have dropped us emails to update us on their continued learning through on the water sailing as well as boat purchases, boat projects and upgrades. Oh yeah, and we get paid to go sailing! That is NOT why we do it but I do find myself giggling (on occasion) on the drive home after a day of sailing instruction - "we just got paid to sail all day! How kewl is that!"


















s/v Bossa Nova - a C22 is our teaching vessel

Commodor's Cup Lake Perry Yacht Club

THE big event of the season for some Lake Perry and regional sailors is the Commodore's Cup Open Regatta. This year was the 30th year for this event.















Strong winds (20-25 knots with gusts higher) lead to some exciting racing and plenty of equipment failures. Tales of the carnage were rampant at lunch on Sunday after all the racing concluded.
















No, we did not take home any of the trophies. We are cruiser - not racers. We just happened to schedule a private lesson on the last day of this event. Our students (Dale and Tom) were concerned that the winds might be too high but we assured them it would be fine. The C22 was reefed down with just the storm jib and we had a rip snorting good time zooming back and forth across the lake with all the racers in the background. Both students did great although I am a tad worried about Dale. Every time I looked at her she was grinning ear to ear. I am concerned that her teeth may have dried out with all that smiling. :)

Updated Blog Disclaimer

I have changed the look of the blog somewhat. That seems to have affected alignment of past postings. It was iffy before and with the changes is completely off in some cases. Deal with it! I am not going back and re-align past postings. Those skewed posting probably have a similar "formatting" as emails you get from you parents so some of you should be used to that look and feel. HA!