New Spinnaker, new'ish crew & a windward-leeward race on Biscayne Bay netted Lasata 6th place. This simple fun club race was a great time on the water and a good learning experience. The crew; John Stein, Kristin Parsons, Stacie, and me handled a fouled Spinnaker and two late starts with a minimum of stress.
Before the race, I had some time to put together our crew shirts,
After the day of racing, we were treated to a keg and some awards back at the club. Tying Lasata to the dock, starting the Air Conditioner, and resting for the evening before we embark on our round trip to Key West. Though sixth place didn't warrant a prize of any kind, we had a good night of meeting some new friends.
Key West Trip
Day one of our trip to Key west, we were able to do some practice Spinnaker sets and had two interesting events. The first event was that a small private Cessna crashed into the water just a few miles behind us. The second was a crazy lightning storm near Duck Key.
At approximately 11pm we were heading to a rush anchor job near Duck Key to batten down and hang on through a fast passing, very exciting lightning storm. Though we dragged anchor a little more than a 100 feet, we dragged in the correct direction. Simply a matter of luck; giving us the opportunity to learn something about weather positioning. We are now well aware that we need a weather eye and constantly updated contingency planning for weather.
Wake up & run to Key West
Waking up at 2:45 am and making the final run to Key West was a joy and though we motor sailed most of the way, John and I were able to spend a few hours sailing at a good speed. Arriving into Key West 12 hours later, we were at Margaritaville having a couple of Loaded Land Shark beers. At one time this was a favorite and traditional way to start the Key West experience. ...Not feeling it so much anymore.
Sleepy Key West evening
As John went out for a walk into town, Stacie and I couldn't help but lying down for a long nap. I'm sure it made for a very atypical Key West visit, but it's how we seem to be doing it this way everywhere we go lately. Sailing just takes it out of us, boaters midnight has become a normal way we spend our evenings.
Oil Change, refuel, and ready to go
After a good breakfast, we headed off to get supplies for our oil change and prep the boat for the 24 hour return to Coconut Grove. I guess I should have drained the Fuel/Oil separator, it would have helped the engine 14 hours later in the trip. It seemed we were starving the engine, and a quick drain-off of the resivouir had the engine running well enough, but I was a little too late for us to regain full power.
Looks like I'll be changing the fuel filters in Coconut Grove.
Can't wait for our next Key's adventure. Maybe we'll have more than a weekend?
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