Sail Away

What a great summer. Lots of sailing on Janus and our Force Five. A few trips to the outerbanks of North Carolina to play in the surf. All the fun documented with a Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS and a a GoPro Hero 2.  Here it is all wrapped up for you to view in this 5 minute video.  More about the cameras we used in an upcomming post.   Hope you enjoy.

Happy Sailing Nikki and Ray

Janus

Janus is a 1970 Alberg
30.  Anyone who knows boats knows the Alberg and the unmistakable classic design. She sports a full keel, a long overhang, and a narrow beam. Put it all together and you have a serious boat capable of crossing the oceans of the world.  

In rough conditions the Alberg really shines.  The narrow beam allows her to slice though each and every wave with ease.  Unlike newer boats, with higher freeboard and greater beam, the ride tends to be very forgiving.  

The cabin is quite cozy. The forward V-berth with room for two, followed by the portside head and on starboard is a closet. The main cabin  has two bench seats and a removable table which is stored in the V-berth when not in use.  The narrow beam( of only 8.9’)  makes aisle traffic somewhat difficult, but we make do.  

Then there is the galley to Starboard with a two-burner alcohol stove, sink with pressure water and a large ice box to port.  

Electronics include a perminant mounted VHF radio and GPS, hand held VHF, and a 406-GPIRP. For entertainment we have a Stereo and a 13 inch LCD TV for movie night.  A solar panel keeps the battery banks energized.

Sail inventory includes a double reef main, two hank on head sails and a symetrical spinnaker. Simple and effective. An Autohelm tiller auto pilot performs most of the stearing and this is one piece of equipment we could not live without. Then there is the trusty 40 year old atomic-four to get us in and out of slips, marinas, and harbours.  A 30 year old Avon Dinghy and an inflatable Sea Eagle two person kayak gets us to shore when anchored out. Two folding bikes and longboard style skateboards are used for shoreside transportation.

Here are a few more pics of Janus.

Happy Sailing  from Nikki and Ray

Spring Sailing- Local Sailing News

Today was sunny, temps in the mid 60s, and blowing NNE 20-25knots.  Seasonal sailors dust off the cobwebs and throw off the bowlines and begin to play in the southern Bay. Unfortunately this time of year accidents on the water tend to be fairly common.  Today brought the news of a local sailing vessel experiencing problems at Little Creek inlet.  The inlet has rock jetties but the approach is pretty straight forward.  In today's case it is assumed the vessel lost power and the wind pushed the vessel into shallow water and the rocks.  Luckily the three people on board were uninjured and rescued.

Our approach when entering an inlet is to always have at least one sail up.  If engine trouble develop we can still maneuver the boat and hopefully sail her out of harms way.  We practice this often by usually sailing the boat all the way to the marina slip.  This practice has come in handy on more than one occasion.  One event I can recall we were entering Little Creek Inlet on a breezy summer day.  Ray went to start the engine and it did not turn over.  We already had full sails up so without panicking we continued our approach as we have done numerous time before under sail.  We made a turn to port toward the marina and then dropped our head sail. This allowed our boat speed to be reduced, and with the main still up we were able to keep Janus moving and maintain steering control. We then made another turn to port and began heading into the marina.  Now in tight quarters we dropped the main sail and using our tiller moving it back and forth we were able to scull Janus safely into her slip.

Here I am with Janus on a typical spring day. Hope you enjoy the short video.

Happy Sailing  from Nikki and Ray

Sunrise on the water

The sun rising as we were heading east out of the Chesapeake Bay into the Atlantic.  Entering the ocean you can feel the bay chop turn into a rolling swell.   15-20 knot breeze,  a double reefed main,  jib to port and main to starboard, wing and wing running before the wind;  Janus sailed effortlessly toward the horizon.

There are many great places to explore and sail on this planet. One of them is where I am living, the southern Chesapeake Bay.  I have the luxury of bay and ocean sailing.  Steady breezes most of the year.  Mild winter weather allows for even great winter sailing and a chance to see migrating whales off the coast of Virginia Beach. Spring is almost here.  Warm and steady southerly breezes will be plentiful. I am looking forward to weeks and months of great sailing ahead.  The first of many planned adventures is coming in April. More info on this soon. 

A video we made. I hope you enjoy.

Happy Sailing  from Nikki and Ray