Jim_Ral

Thanks for the summary of the 2009 Texas 200. It is a fantastic run and would like to participate one day. I am amazed at how well the PD Racers do. Slow and steady finishes the race.

Beautiful boat! If I go to Poland in May 2010 (which is a possibility), I would love to see DOPPIO.

Initially, I learned to sail on a Sunfish many moons ago. It was all pretty much self-taught and through reading. However, last year I took the basic keelboat course at the Oriental School of Sailing and it was very good at filling in the gaps. How one learns to sail appears to vary greatly. However, formal instructions with a set course outline can be good. Also, I think Lake Wheeler has sailing lessons that specifically seem to be geared for racing. I thought about going out today....but work has been crazy and I needed the weekend rest.

Thanks for the post Tom. This is technology at its best. Monitoring the EC is going to be fun.

Right you are, Ken!!! ;D Jim

Ken: What? No swimming?! Jim

May I suggest bringing an extra hat and some beer, too. The video turned out very good.....gave me flash-backs.

Yes, I had an adventure on Lake Jordan yesterday with Ken. Late Friday night, I found an email from Ken asking if I wanted to sail Sat. It was going to be iffy weather, but, heck...I have a saying "every sail is an adventure.". Saturday morning I called Ken to see if he was still up for it. He was. The weather a warm 65-70 and blowing, so I decided to wear swim trunks. That turned out to be a good decision. On the way to Jordan, the sun came out and by the time I got to Vista Point, Ken was rigging and we were set for a blustery and rather sunny day with clouds passing rapidly over head. We launched, and about five minutes into the sail, Ken wanted his life vest. Another good move. We tacked several times across the lake, with the goal of getting the CS17 to plane. My recent sailing experience is on a sloop and past experience many moons ago is on a Sunfish. So, I was learning how to deal with sailing cat-ketch. We took turns at the helm and got each other wet from the splash. As Ken related, he was at the helm and we tacked and the next thing I knew we were heeling pretty far and then just before going over I heard a faint "Sorry" from Ken. Over we went . The boat turtled 180. At first I thought the masts would have been stuck in the mud, but we were in such deep water that it was clear they did not hit the bottom. The first thing I noticed was that the rudder came off and started to float away and that I no longer had a shoe on my left foot. Going into the drink, my head never really went under the water. I grabbed the rudder and we got into position on the leeward side to right the boat after realizing that the windward side was not going to work. Ken stood on the CB, the most I could do was pull myself halfway up. Slowly the boat righted and as it did we heard everything sliding. I was trying to keep the rudder from floating away and by the time Ken got in, the wind blew the boat away from me. Ken tried to start the motor, but that wasn't going to happen. I tried to swim a bit and figured I could not catch up with the wind blowing the boat. By that time, I noticed a yellow float in front of me that was keeping my truck key from sinking. I grabbed it and got out my whistle from the life vest. Up wind, there were windsurfers....but they did not notice anything. So I proceeded to blow the whistle and wave the yellow key float until some fishermen noticed. They asked me if I was with "that" boat...the one with the guy bailing. I told them yes, and I have the rudder . Eventually I got in their boat and got back to Ken. The fishermen commented that I was the largest fish they caught that day. We bailed some water, got the rudder back on, and partially unrolled a sail to get us moving again so the self-bailer could work on the remaining water. Ken was checking the bailer and said "I found your shoe." We got to a beach. Bailed the remaining water and had a beer. We took inventory and the only thing lost was my hat. Ken moved the mizzen forward while keeping the main rolled on the mast and we had a good sail back. Ken really needed a smoke. Some thoughts: 1) I now prefer a life vest with closed cell foam rather than an inflatable. I noticed that the vest kept my chest warm in the water, although my extremities never really got cold. 2) A whistle is a good thing to have attached to the vest. 3) The impulse to buy a float for my truck key was a good one. 4) Losing a hat was nothing. 5) It was good that we were on a lake rather than a river with currents or on the coast. 6) I still will sail with Ken. BTW, the two remaining beers were great, Ken! Cheers, Jim

I also want to thank B & B Yacht Designs for the messabout. I came on Friday and it was good to meet everyone and view the various boats. I especially enjoyed going out on Lapwing. Thank you very much. Now I have to make a decision on which one to make! In the meantime, if anyone in the Raleigh area needs crew to go sailing, let me know! - Jim