LimpetRacing.com

Each year San Juan 21 Fleet one in Seattle puts on a rigging clinic in February to get the boats of the fleet ready for spring racing.  This year we hit the Washington weather equivalent of a trifecta: sun, mild temps, and a 10-15kt NW breeze.  It was as close as a winter sailor in Seattle can hope to come to a perfect day in February.  The beautiful day also brought out the masses, and we had 10 boats, 12+ skippers, and several Sea Scouts who took part. Continue Reading »

Those of you who have been reading about Limpet for a while now know that in my first ever attempt to race the boat my keel cable broke.  This resulted in a freewheeling 500LB lead keel almost ripping the bottom of the boat apart.  One of the major reasons that my cable broke is that both of the brass sheaves (aka pulleys) had frozen up, causing the cable to grind the pulley like a drunk sorority chick on frat boy with a trust fund.  This weekend I set about to fix the offending sheave.

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I have discovered a cheap alternative to caffeine… capsize your boat in Lake Union during February.  If I could just manage to bottle the exhilaration of being thrust unwillingly into 40 degree lake water (without a drysuit), I could be then next Howard Schultz.  Truth be told it was not actually my boat.  I left Limpet at home and headed out for a race with my friend Jim on his Vanguard Nomad.  He was kind enough to hand me the helm and in my first time flying a spinnaker I discovered how to broach. Continue Reading »