2 days of prep!

Having arrived Saturday night, I first arrived at the dinghy park Sunday morning. The boat was already pulled out, so Olav and I sped through measurement without any problems. We found our spot in the dinghy park and went to work on fixing a list of little issues that we had put of for some time but decided really needed to be fixed.

I undertook two pet projects of my own. The first was the installation of some heavy duty grip tape from Home Depot on the aft edge of the rail. Back east, where it's not so breezy, when you're reaching downwind, you're rarely moving that far back in the boat. However, in places like SF and Santa Cruz (where the waves are superlarge), the crew will be pretty far back in the boat to keep the bow from diving into the waves. The grip tape is super grippy, so hopefully I won't go flying.

The latter project involved hooking up a trip line for the skipper to retract the spinnaker pole. This'll help us jibe much faster and much safer -- I won't be in the boat when the pole is retracting, and it's more likely that it won't catch on anything.

Today we actually hit the water, and it was breezy. Definitely in the mid 20s. We stayed out for ~ 1.5 hours before we ran into a few problems that required us to come in and start working out these kinks. Funny how sailing turns into a series of lists of to-dos. Must come with the territory.

Dinner (and "nightcap") were at the Tipsy Pig. I had the burger with some avocado. It hit the spot. This morning en route to the dinghy park, we stopped at Jamba Juice. I hadn't had JJ since the one in the Arlington Whole Foods closed; even though the weather here is freaking cold for the summer (high of 70 and blustery wind), it really hit the spot. I missed that stuff. Dinner tonight was as an Italian place called Parma. I had a filling potato-and-leek soup and the risotto special. They warmed me up.

Before dinner, I biked over to Safeway for groceries. It felt good to not buy some organic stuff and to get "normal" groceries. Quite a bit cheaper, I'll add.

North Americans starts tomorrow. 2 races!

Photos of the Golden Gate Bridge & Alcatraz!

Arrived!

I arrived! The flight from BOS to SFO on VirginAmerica was great. I somehow had an entire row to myself on a nearly crowded plane. Being the gentleman that I am, I gave a seat to someone else, but still, it was nice. The VA experience is very nice; I'm looking forward to the return trip.

Olav and I caught a cab to the apartment we're staying at. It's a lil townhouse in Cow's Hollow (who thinks of these names?). We're about a mile by foot to the sailing site. Last night after dropping off my bags, we went out for a slice of pizza and a beer. Our place is a block from the nightlife, so even if the sailing is a bust, we'll have a nice vacation.

Going to crawl out of bed (got up super early to the time zone) to head down to the site. Hopefully we can get through measurement without any issues and try to hit the water for a bit.

Wedding & BOS

Finally have settled into a stable place to get a post up, even if it is for just a short few hours.

Thursday was a long day. With my cousin's wedding up in Falmouth, MA, I departed in my Jetta from Arlington, VA at 08:30. I picked up my little sister at the Stamford, CT train station and headed to New Haven for a quick lunch at good ole Naples, a staple of my time there. Traffic was pretty miserable, partially due to generally Cape Cod traffic, partially due to the huge rainstorm that moved through the area that night. We arrived at the InnSeason motel, which is right next to the ferry dock in Falmouth. I would not stay there again. It's a shithole. The one highlight was dinner at the Flying Bridge, a large-ish restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. The striped bass over risotto was good.

The wedding was Friday afternoon at 3 PM. A breakfast of Manfredas and Rendas took place at Betsy's Diner, which apparently is the classic diner in downtown Falmouth. I dined on pancakes and a side of homefries.

The wedding took place at St. Anthony's (?) church a few miles in Falmouth, and the reception was at a nearby country club. I won't bore you with more text about the event, but I'll let the photos do the talking.

I'm currently sitting in the two-gate VirginAmerica gate at BOS for my flight to SFO for 505 Worlds. I've grown fed up with the standard airlines (United, US Air, etc.) and opted for VA for this trip (and the return back to IAD). Comments from others (a few co-workers) on VA have been positive, so I'm looking forward to the flight. Hopefully it'll be worth it for this relatively long flight.

First post!

The very first post!