Team Seacats

This weekend was a good opportunity for several of us to get out the F18s and do some tuning and experimenting with setups. Four of us gathered at the Lake Keowee Sailing Club (my home club) and had some really nice breeze on Saturday. The breeze peaked at about 14 knots and gradually started to die by the end of the day. I single handed for the first two races because my crew wasn’t able to arrive on time. I found the boat to be pretty overpowered with just me on board in that breeze but I was able to hang in there with the fleet. After Tim Owens jumped on board with me, we were able to get competitive. Unfortunately, I was quite rusty with handling the boat around a closed course. My tacks were pretty bad, I wasn’t being terribly smooth, and I actually fell off the boat once by not quite hooking in the trapeze harness all the way. Fortunately, I was able to hang on to the mainsheet (which almost made the boat capsize as my ‘body surfing’ with the mainsheet, sheeted in the main sail even more) and Tim was quick to grab the tiller and I was able to climb back to the boat and get onboard without loosing too much.

We then spent an evening grilling and swimming at Rick Harper’s house and then went at it again on Sunday. We switched up some boats on Sunday to get a feel for what other people were doing. The air was pretty light and fluky but still was a good time. I felt like this weekend was really good to help me get back into course racing mode. Click on the following image to go to the flikr site where there are some more photos.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

Another late breaking bulletin from our Notably Nutty department. Kristofer J. “Harley” Harlson is going to sail non-stop around the world in a self built 8′ boat. I’m not making this up. On one hand you have to admire the ambition. His statement “I do not wish for anyone to risk his or her lives trying to save me from my own folly” is certainly admirable. If you follow the first link, I think you will agree that he looks pretty sane. On the other hand though, you have to wonder if galvanized hinges for rudder pintles, fire hose screwed in place to hinge a rudder trim tab, or galvanized steel mesh used in the hull construction are indicative of great planning. For that matter…can you store enough food for a 1.5 knot voyage around the globe inside such a thing? Click ‘em if you got ‘em

Kristofer J. “Harley” Harlson — Sea Biscuit Around the World 2006-2007

An interview at Duckworks Magazine

Some Construction Photos

I finally got out the sandpaper for the F18 bow (remember the repair I started a while back?). After a wetsanding with 600 grit and a couple of passes with the buffer, voila! Good as new. The timing is good to since I’m expecting to do some sailing this weekend.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

I got a ride around Woodruff, SC in a Boeing Stearman PT-17 this evening owned by my employer. As I didn’t have my camera handy I had to borrow this identical picture from the Coleta Air and Space Museum. I promise to get off this airplane kick and back to sailing soon.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

This just in from our “notably nutty” department (before anyone feels offended…I openly admit that I belong within that category). Here’s another composite/molding project that appears to be out of hand. How about a home built fiberglass 80% scale Corsair airplane … that you fly in. I particularly like his statement when talking about composites because I’ve been able to identify with it most recently; “…you have either spectacular results, or spectacular failures.” Stragely, I feel comfort in the fact that my composite failures won’t involve a deathly spiral into the ground.

Thanks to Jackie for the link. Click ‘em if you got ‘em.

Corsair 82