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Recent Posts
- A Mariner’s Call – The Amazing Boat Evacuation on 9/11 September 8, 2016
- What a Rhodes 19 race looks likes August 19, 2014
- Damn You Hurricane Arthur!!! August 8, 2014
- 2014 Launch Kicks-Off with a Bang July 4, 2014
- Fall Sailing Adventure on the Rhodes 19 October 8, 2013
Monthly Archives: August 2014
What a Rhodes 19 race looks likes
As I have written about before, every Wednesday and Saturday in July and August there are races on Menemsha Pond. These races are hosted and organized by Sail MV, a great non-profit organization all about sailing on the Vineyard. There are a few Rhodes 19s on the pond that show up to race somewhat regularly, the “Three Sisters” is one of them.There is a Herreshoff class, and then a “everything else” class.
Last Saturday, 8/9/2014, there were two races, in first light, then building and shifty winds. Here is a quick recap of the races.
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Damn You Hurricane Arthur!!!
My last sailing blog entry, 2014 Launch Kicks-off with a bang, was about how wonderful the “Three Sisters” looks with her new gelcoat and lettering. This blog entry, unfortunately, is about how that damn hurricane/tropical storm Arthur, commenced to ruin that gelcoat!
As Arthur approached I prepared like a good sailor. Doubled up my mooring lines, double checked the chaffing gear, secured all gear below. The good news was that Arthur’s path, see below, was way offshore as it passed Martha’s Vineyard, and it was downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved up the east coast.
There was some strong downpours, but the main threat was sustained winds, with guts into the sixties mph range.
The mistake I made was that I kept the boom tent on the boat during the storm. I had secured the tent with clips and bungee ties, but the wind proved to sustained and strong. The bungee cords wore with the sustained winds, lost their tension and allowed the metal clips to begin fluttering wildly in the wind. What was the result you ask? “Shotgun” spray marks on starboard and port aft hull in my beautifully newly gelcoated boat.
So what did I learn? To do everything you can in a major storm to minimize windage and to take this type of event in stride. Now I have to figure out how much it is going to cost to fix the damn gelcoat.
So damn you Arthur, and please tell your friends to stay away from Martha’s Vineyard!!!

The track of the damn storm Arthur
Posted in Cruising