California Sailing

A few more Newport Ensenada Races ...

2007-06-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

Since the last post I've had some great days out sailing in Southern California. Yeah, cringe...its been over two years since the last post! Maybe now I'll get to do more posting!

We had a great time on the 2007 Newport Ensenada race:
http://www.scsv.nevada.edu/~pnelson/2007ensenada01.jpg
http://www.scsv.nevada.edu/~pnelson/2007ensenada02.jpg
Even tho the wind was so light half the fleet gave up ... we still managed to
sail most of the way ... only motoring a few hours to get in around 11pm
Sat night.

Last year I bought a 25 foot Bayfield 25 and moved her up to Channel Islands. Being a boat owner is quite an experience. Just taking it slow and easy but sure is nice to have a baby all my own!
Will try to get a few pics up as time permits

Long Beach Race

2005-05-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

I participated in the Long Beach Marina Sailing Race on Sat. May 7, 2005. Great day for a race around the Long Beach Markers, then out on the ocean and back through Queen's Gate. Our boat was Still Dreaming, a Catalina 42. Will add more to this post as time permits.

Stories of the Newport Ensenada Race

2005-05-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

It would be great to hear experiences of other sailors and sailboats on previous Newport-Ensenada races. So please click on comments to this message and tell your stories.

The results for the 2005 race can be found by going to:
http://www.nosa.org/05_races-lx.html
and looking in the dropdown box for race results or go to:
http://www.nosa.org/05_races-results-rev4.html

On the 2005 race we experienced every kind of weather from a short squall, to no wind (like we were in a giant hole ... we could see wind a short distance away but it sure wasn't where we were) to increasining winds throughout the night. The return trip gave us perfect 19-20 knot winds - that would have been perfect for the race!
Read the Log account of the big boat experience (they finished 14 hours ahead of us)
http://www.thelog.com/news/newsview.asp?c=156911

We had such a perfect night sail. Our Enchanted Lady sails well on a beam reach so we found ourselves bringing her up to a beam reach to increase speed and then bringing her down off the wind to get back on course. That kind of put us "in the groove" for most of a beautiful moonlight sail. The winds stayed with us until 10:30 on Saturday and then it became a struggle to keep Enchanted Lady moving toward the finish line.
Thanks to skipper Andy Sibert's perserverence (and some great crewmembers!) we made it and the results were a first place in our class. Awesome!

Sailing Blog

2005-05-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

I started sailing in November of 2002 thanks to the fine folks at Marina Sailing in the Channel Islands Office.
http://www.marinasailing.com/

After taking sailing lessons with these great guys I've tried to get down to California on every possible weekend to be on the ocean, charter a boat or be part of a race. A membership with Marina Sailing lets me charter a variety of sailboats 25-40 plus feet ... Catalina, O'Day, Hunters ...on and on.

Sailing over the past few years really paid off when I got to be on the winning team for the Newport-Ensenada race this year. We came in first for the Ginaker A class on Enchanted Lady.

Pictures from daysails and races are available at:
http://www.scsv.nevada.edu/~pnelson/sails.html

The purpose for this blog is first for me to get some experience with what blogs are about, and also to share and record some of the great sails I've been blessed with since I started on this adventure. Please feel free to post comments as I figure out what to do with this blog.