Bucentaure Update

 

Spring is almost here and that means its time to get Bucentaure ready for the water.  Last July she got a little scratched up during a storm and very high tide so we need to get the hull repainted along with some other minor repairs.  The paint work will be done by professionals as I would just screw it up.

I’m going to try something new this year with the boat.  Rather than keeping her tied up at a dock during the sailing season, the boat will be stored at a “Boatel” facility.  What’s that?  It’s an steel cradle that’s on land and the boatyard uses a big fork lift to put her in and out of the water.

I’m really ready for Spring

Sailing and Dog Sitting

 A lot of time was spent on the water last weekend, sailing around on the Bucentaure.  The weather and wind were great and I was able to make sure everything on the boat is in good order.  We're hosting a lot of different groups at the house over the next few weekends and the boat will get a good bit of use.  The first picture shows the Inn at Perry Cabin's "Star Bright".  It's also an Alerion like mine but a bit bigger at 38 ft. We always have mock races when we're both out on the water and I usually loose - as you can see here.  Most of you are familiar with the Inn as it was the setting for the wedding scenes in the movie "The Wedding Crashers".  Despite being in a somewhat crass but very funny movie, the hotel is one of the best I've ever stayed at.

 Got the sails in a nice butterfly setting while running down wind.

 Boat traffic got a little heavy later Sunday afternoon and I decide to head in - it's no fun getting tossed about by big boats

 We also dog sat for some friends who were out of town so I got to pretend I had a dog for a few days.  Master Otis was a very well behaved visitor.

One of the Restaurants in town, Ava's features an outside patio that both allows dogs and has a dog menu.  Here you can see Otis enjoying his chicken and sweet potatoes entree.  My wife was away attending a board meeting so it was just Otis and me for the first part of his stay.

 He's a funny little dog who enjoys watching videos.

 We do have 2 cats and they and Otis all decided it was best to ignore one another - this is about as close as Izzy would get to him.  This level of mutual detente held up until Mary Beth returned.  Otis really likes Mary Beth and would chase any of the cats away from her - it was really funny until Otis discovered cats do, indeed, have claws.

Well some lessons can only be learned the hard way.

Important News: US Sail Boat Show in Annapolis

This weekend is the US Sailboat Show, which rivals Historicon as one of my favorite events.  This year will have close to 200 different boats on display.

Sadly there will be no Alerions (my boat) as the manufacturer has gone belly up and no one has picked up the license.  Such are the travails of the sailboating world.

I'm not really in the mood for a new boat - well that's what I told the wife!

No more sailing until spring.....

:(

How The Grinch Stole My Yacht Club

 Yesterday the Annapolis Yacht Club caught fire and was destroyed.  Thankfully, no one was seriously injured - one fire firefighter had a minor injury but was released from the hospital.  The cause of the fire is reported to be a Christmas tree on the third floor.  There isn't a known reason why the club was engulfed so quickly, but that will come out over the next few days. Thankfully, the club was closed for party preparations when the fire started or it could have been much worse.  Kudos to the club's manager for realizing the threat and getting all the staff out safely.

 I have spent many an hour in the club with friends and after races and it really was a grand location.  I'm a member of the club in St Michaels and the our clubs have reciprocity (I get to use both) and I spend more time at the AYC.

While these are just "things", one of the great losses are all the sailing trophies accumulated over 150 years of operation, including some won by my son when he was sailing in high school.

As a side note, you can see how unseasonably warm it is here as there are paddle boarders in the water during December (it was 72F yesterday)

I really feel for the members, as the club was really a hub for sailing and social activity in Annapolis.  I've spent a lot of time at the bar telling sea stories (some of which were true) and was planning on hosting a dinner there between Christmas and New Years for friends.

What a shame, but then again we're all very lucky no one was seriously hurt.  While the fire is a devastating blow only "stuff" was destroyed and it can all be rebuilt.

Last Sail for 2016

 On Sunday, October 25th, I sailed the Bucentuare across the Chesapeake to Annapolis to put her up for the winter.  It was a grey rainy day with light winds and 50 degree weather.  But a day on the water always beats a day on the land.

 I did get templet with the navtronics on my newly installed B&G system.  The chart can plot the most efficient direction to go based on wind speed / direction and final destination.  I need to enter the specific factors for my boat (hull size/shape and sail configuration but it's a pretty cool tool!

There were lots of freights to dodge!

 Anf here she is, tied up on the floating dock at the boatyard where she'll winter.  The boatyard crew will lift the Bucentuare out of the water with a giant fork lift and place her of stilts to ride out the winter.  After a bit a re-fit she goes back in the water in late March of 2016!

I did spend a little time on the work bench planing the top.  Lots more to do!

Prepping for Huricane Joaquin

A busy few days here in St Michaels as we were under the threat from Huricane Joaquin as you can see from the scary track to the left.

While it looks like the storm will head out to sea it pays to play it safe.  I spent the past few days boarding up the house and moving the sail boat to a safe anchorage in a creek.

We still have heavy rain (up to 8 inches today) and 40 knot winds but at least it isn't a Huricane!.  Hopefully I'll get some painting in later today.

A Little More Painting, A Little More Sailing...

A rainy and windy weekend is a perfect combo for painting and sailing.

I actually managed to do more than prime some mini's.  The first two colors have been applied - Medium fleshtone and a flat white (pictured to the lower left).  I take a bit of an assembly line approach to painting units doing one color at a time.  I find it reduces errors and really helps me keep a unit looking like they belong together.

A close up of one of the figures.  These will be a Maryland regiment so will have blue coats with red facings.  It does feel good to be painting again

On satruday, I had a race in Annapolis and it was a perfect race day - 18-20 knot winds a little chop and rain.  I was crewing a friends boat but really wanted to have Bucentaure in the race.  There was some excitement.  During the third race a boat form another class (pictured above) lost her rudder.  It's hard to see in the picture but the rudder is completely sheard off just about the water line.  A sailboat without a rudder in high winds becomes a torpedo untll the sails are loosed but there was no collisions.  Maybe it was better the Bucentaure stayed in St Michaels.

Long Weekend & a New Airbrush

 It was a wonderful weekend here in St Michaels - steady wind from the south at 12-15 knots.  Sean and I took the Bucentuare out on Sunday.  Our original plan was to practice turns for an upcoming regatta but that quickly thrown overboard as it was just too nice.

 The St Michaels harbor was jammed and there were at least 60-65 boats anchored outside.  Sadly, there were a lot of power boats flitting about.  Sailboaters are legally required to both look down upon and say snide things about power boats and their owners.  It's just the nature to things.

 It was a near perfect day to sail.  We got in 26 nautical miles in 3.5 hours so averaged 7.4 knots/hour.  At one time we had her at 9.1 knots for a few minutes.

 We did pass a beautiful schooner - I thinks it's a Hinkley but I'm not sure.   One day......

 I did get some painting time in over the weekend.  Unfortunately, it was wife-sanctioned painting of our patio furniture.  The first step was a quick test to ensure spousal approval.  I've learned NEVER to skip this test on any sanctioned project as the ramifications can be very bad.  Once the required approvals were obtained, documented, notarized and filed for safekeeping I went about the business of painting.  I've been seeing a lot of post on the value of an airbrush for our hobby so wanted to really try one out.  So here goes.....

 To be honest I'm not sure how people paint miniatures with one of these things.  It puts out a lot of paint but man it took like 40 eye dropper bottles of Vallejo black to fill up the paint reservoir.  

Nearly done.  We ran out of black paint before finishing the last few chairs so there will be some follow on work next weekend.  My son did have a bit of a mishap.  While spraying some water through the paint gun to clean it he got a little careless and managed to hit the far right corner of the white garden fence - which now has a bunch of spots in some crazy monochromatic leopard spot design.  It's a race to see if he can repaint that part before his Mom discovers the error.

By the way, you can catch a glimpse of my lovely yet fierce wife in the last picture - the turquoise spot in the center.  She says she was planting herbs but I think she was keeping an eye on Sean and me.

First Sail of the Season: 39 Nautical Miles logged

The Bucentaure saw her first sail of the season with a trip from her wintering spot in Annapolis to St Michaels where she is moored during the summer months.  The trip was made even more eventful as it was the first sail of the season with my son who has recently completed his second year of college and returned home for the summer a few days prior.

On the way out of Annapolis harbor, we passed an Osprey nest on top of a channel marker.  The weather for the trip was just about perfect - 10-12 knot steady winds, relatively calm seas and temps in the low 70's.  The only downer was the direction of the wind - it was blowing south to North and we needed to go south which meant a lot of tacking (zig-zagging for you land lubbers) and turned a 29 nautical mile trip into a 39 nautical mile one.  It took us 7 hours to make the passage.

Finally under sail.  You may notice that the jib's still furled.  When we first unfurled it, we saw that it wasn't installed properly.  While we could have attempted to fix it underway, it's not the safest thing to try to do in a pitching boat so we elected to furl it back up and repair the mounting at dock.  It cost us 2 knots of speed but it was such a nice day we really weren't in a rush.

 Tacking across the Bay meant play tag with freighters heading up to the harbor in Baltimore and it was a busy, busy day for commercial shipping.

When you're in a sailboat, Freighter can move pretty quick - here's ones a good bit away, but

 Seven minutes later....

 Another giant speed demon

A big 'ole container ship

 The bloody point light house - about the halfway point of the trip and makes the transition for the Chesapeake Bay proper and the less trafficked East Bay.  Given the wind direction, the East Bay transit was a straight shot.  About half way through the East Bay we elected to practice some "Man Over-Board" drills which entail one of the crew pretending to fall overboard (we throw a flotation cushion into the water) and the remaining crew member needs to handle the boat alone to turn and retrieve the "crew member cushion".  It's a pretty basic but really important maneuver to practice often as when the real thing happens one needs to be able to overcome the natural emotions of fear to pilot the boat to get the crewman.  We each did the drill three times.  Sean's all went well but my first one was a bit of a mess (I ran over the cushion!).  The drill is performed without using the boat's motor.

After transmitting the East Bay we entered the Miles River and sailed into St Michaels.  Once the boat was moored in her slip we spent about an hour fixing the jib sail rigging and cleaning up the boat.  After that my wife came over and we had dinner at the Marina.

There was a wedding reception at the Marina but no wedding party.  About halfway through our dinner we swath arrive via boat - only on the Eastern Shore.

All-in-all it was a good but long day on the bay and the Bucentaure has logged her first 39 Nautical miles of 2015.

Sectional Terrain: More mountains and a river

 A bit more progress on the "mountain" sections with the basic ground paint being applied.  I have noticed that the grout / white glue mix takes a very long time to dry when it's more than 1/16 of an inch thick.  I may switch to using hydrocal plaster or plaster cloth for basic contours and then keeping the coating of grout very thin.  The rock faces have also been carved into the two sections.

 Lighting can be a funny thing in pictures - the shade of light brown is the same between the two sections but shows up much darker in the pic.  My garage workshop could use some better lighting.

 Some "boulders" ready for painting.  Just random pieces of foam foam from cut-offs that are tacked down to a piece of 2x4 and awaiting painting.  It's easier to put paint boulders separately and then apply once the basic ground foam is down - keeps unwanted glue and flock from getting on them.

 While I was waiting for the mountain sections to dry, I decided to add the plaster contours to the river bank and then texture with my trusty grout/white glue mix.  The banks are lined with plaster cloth and then covered with grout.  The river is 3" wide and enters/exits each board in the middle.  Once I get comfortable I can do the water (which is a tricky subject) a 2x4 foot river section will also be built.  About 1/3 of the way from the top of the picture there's a spot for a ford.  The plan is to scratch build a few bridge options (one in 15mm and the other in 28mm scale) so there's a few methods to cross.  As Sunday May 10th comes to a close, 24 square feet of the planned 70'ish is close to done so progress is being made - which is good 'cause my time allowed to lobby stuff is about to take a big hit....

My sailboat goes in the water this week.  The anti-floulent paint on the hull (the red) had to be repainted as it was peeling off (the builder didn't do it right).  I've still got to have the electronics installed (depth finder, GPS plotter and wind gauge) but that's supposed to be done early this week.

Despite the distraction the Bucentaure poses, I'm still feeling comfortable about getting everything done in time for Historicon.  We shall see....

More Stupid Terrain Modeler tips - this is a rolling list of things I've learned while doing this project

(1) Ground foam crops look awful when they are different sizes and not spaced evenly - take the time to add details in the right way and don't rush

The additions from this post:

(2) Gravity stays in effect while building terrain.  I had forgotten that water flows to the lowest level and after leaving the risky depression board to dry overnight and came in to discover that the diluted glue had kept into the sand bottom and brought along enough flock to cover it - the whole section had to be redone.  I should have put some dam's in place.

(3) Plaster cloth is great for terrain but don't but the hobby version which is expensive - buy the cloth from a medical supply house (it's the stuff used to make casts) - you can get 5x the amount for 1/3 the price.

Late October Sail

 Last Saturday was a spectacular fall day here in Maryland - mid 60's with a steady 12 knot breeze - in other words a perfect day for sailing!  I took the Bucentaure out for a planned few hours that turned into 6 'cause it was just to nice to come in.  We sailed out of Annapolis harbor and weren't the only ones to notice the weather was nice.

 The Comet fleet was out in force (first two pictures) and had a very spirited regatta.

A nice little heel as we are close hauled (that means heading as close into the wind as we can).  The Alerion sails very well close hauled but I have a shoal keel which means I loose a few points to another Alerion with a deeper keel.  The benefit is the boat draws about 1 ft less water which means (hopefully) I don't run aground as much and have wider course options when racing.

 We ran into two other Alerion 28's in the afternoon - here's the the "Skimmer" (hull # 160).  We did some impromptu racing and I learned that I need a lot more practice!

 While hard to see, the right most boat in front is the other Alerion 28 - the "Magic" (hull #429).  One design boats like ours keep track of the hull numbers which also signify the build order.  The Bucentaure is hull #458.

For the month of November, the Bucentaure will be docked in Annapolis at Jabins Boatyard.  My son and I are planning the last sail to be the "Leftover Regatta" which is Nov 29th (the Saturday after Thanksgiving here in the States).

For those of you more interested in miniature gaming posts than sailing, I would expect to see many fewer sailing posts - I really don't like cold water sailing!