05/12/2026
Skippers,
Thanks to the folks who supported the Maritime Festival on May 2nd. Your efforts are appreciated and resulted in a few new or potential members. To that end, lets welcome Jim V., who joined the club Saturday and brought his DF65 to sail. Jim is a big boat sailor and just needs a little stick time to get the feel for sailing at a distance.
The report from the Model shop is that two new boats were started last week. It's nice to see the fleet growing.
We had beautiful weather for Skipjack racing. Mostly sunny skies, moderate temperatures, and wind from the SW at 10-15. It looks good on paper, but the wind direction was about as frustrating as it gets on Back Creek. The flag on top of the museum was showing a strong SW wind, but at the water it was swirling. Strangely enough, the breeze on the back stretch of the course was predominately from the ESE. It appeared to be funneled down the creek and rushing in under the prevailing winds. In other words, we all had plenty excuses for missing marks and sailing into the bulkhead. After a late start, we were only able to complete one race prior to the Tennison returning to the dock. The second hour of sailing went a little more smoothly and we managed 4 more two lap races, for a total of 5. Tom won top honors on the day with 3 first place finishes.
The #77 started the day with a rudder servo that sounded like it was slipping. By the end of the day George had to take her out of service because the teeth had stripped and he was about to lose control. Meanwhile the club boat was being sailed by George L. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that transmitter has a high/low rate switch. It was set to low which meant he had minimal rudder throw. I'll add that to the list of things to remember. He sailed pretty well considering.
V/r
Kyle
