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“Is that you?”

“Barry Up Early” by Curt Bowman

 

 

An email from Steve contains the above subject line and not much more, other than a weblink. Following the link brings me to a page, which contains only the photo of a beautiful painting of a sailboat, with the title “Barry Up Early”.

My first thought is: “It can’t be me; I’m never up early.” Terri, who knows me well, said the same thing, Very skeptical of anything that uses the words “Barry” and “early” in the same sentence.

But it’s on Curt’s blog, and Curt is a friend and a very talented painter. He never said anything about doing a painting that contained either me or early in it as a subject. I tried to think of when he might have seen such a thing. Steve and I sailed with Curt on Annie last year, making a fine day of it circumnavigating Gwynn’s Island. But neither he nor I brought our boats that day. And I was late.

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Night Lights ~ Chesapeake Float 2016


The Green Monster 

 

It’s already growing dark when Doug gets my attention, says the crabs and oysters are ready and I’m missing them. Indeed, people are seated around long tables under the trees. Sounds of laughter and conversation, and crickets. Shadows seep from the woods and collect in pools beneath the sycamores and cypress. Fireflies lift off from the lawn, scribing arcs above the grass.

 

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Chesapeake Float 2016 ~ Mermaids, Crabs and Other Edible Fishes

 

Still more to do on the Lightning before she could sail. Raising sails for only the second time, for instance, it became clear the halyards were going to be a problem. While attending to that I broke a few more things, so had to fix those, too.

Like other older racing boats, Lightnings have two-part halyards. The half you haul away on is conventional line, fat and comfortable in the hand. The other half is thin wire. The idea is when fully raised and cleated off it’s mostly the wire under tension, which doesn’t stretch much. Makes sense: Set it once and it’s good for the day.

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Chesapeake Float 2016 ~ Cocks Crow

 Sunrise at Freeport Landing

 

Dawn is very noisy. There’s a rooster. A rooster very near, like next to my head. The sun is barely up, and he is hard at work. Also, something else making a racket I can’t quite place. A sheep? No sleeping through it, rise and shine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lightning #2833 with the boom tent

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Chesapeake Float 2016 ~ Arrivals

 Mike’s Melonseed “Pepita”

 

“Don’t wait for me.”

“Where are you?”

“Just pulling out of the driveway. Of course. Still a lot of things to fix.”

“Oh. OK, well, call when you get here. Not sure where we’ll stop, but we’ll be back sometime tomorrow.”

Two hours later, Freeport Landing looks deserted. The sun is low, throwing long shadows across the water. A row of empty trailers lined up near the ramp. One lone boat there. Hmm, maybe someone went along as crew and left their boat. And Mike’s Melonseed is anchored off the beach. Not a soul in sight, though. Sometimes people double up for company or to lend an extra hand.

 

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Steerage ~ Semi-final Rudder Repair

 

 

After seeing those new Lightnings up close, I got some ideas for how to do a few things on old #2833. Still much to learn, but it’s a start. And I got back early enough Saturday to get started. Then had all day Sunday. Two good days in a row, a new record. Main thing is to finish the kickup rudder. That’s essentially done.

John included the plans for the boat, and those came in handy for this. I could draw out the original rudder lines on plotter paper to see how Sparkman & Stephens intended it. Laying the parts down on the lines made it easy to make final decisions and adjustments.

 

  

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Lightning Potomac Regatta ~ Doc Gilbert 2016

Lightning Fleet #50 prepares for the Doc Gilbert races

 

With the Chesapeake Float coming less than a week off, it’s a bit disconcerting not to have had a chance for a single test sail in the Lightning. We set a record last week for most consecutive days of rain, weeks of rain, and that really set back progress on the boat. It may still be ready, barely, but I had hoped to have taken a couple of shakedown cruises by now. Lots of unknowns, and I keep finding ways to break things. Sunday morning it was the valve stem on one of the tires, which promptly went flat. I expect a handful of things to break the first time I try to sail in any wind.

I decided to try and see what I am in for, so took a drive to the near side of Washington, DC, to see some other Lightnings. Fleet 50 has an annual weekend regatta on the Potomac out of Leesylvania State Park, known as the Doc Gilbert. Was a couple of hours of driving, but well worth it. Many years ago I had some projects there with the CBYCC. The park has come a long way since then. Continue reading “Lightning Potomac Regatta ~ Doc Gilbert 2016”