Beer Can Race #1

Hi Everyone! It was a cold, dark and rainy night...lighter wind, rolling waves and dark skies. Even with all that, we had, what I would consider, a very successful race! Dark Island finished first in the section! We're the only ones in our section! HA! Then the race committee grouped us with another section, and we ended up towards the middle. But that's ok... we (and the race committee) need to figure out where we fit in and who we should be racing against. Either way, we had a good start, we played with a couple different sails, which was good practice, but probably ended up slowing us down a little, and we took a more conservative approach to the whole race - which will probably change as we get more comfortable... pretty soon we'll be screaming at everyone to get out of our way!

Check out Maskwa behind us in this picture. No, not the boat you can see behind us with the red sail numbers, but the small light at the top of the mast on the boat behind the boat you CAN see in the picture... that's how overcast it was Wednesday...

Tune-up Sail

Last Wednesday was a scheduled tune-up race, but we had a few things to get straight before we set out to race. Therefore, we quite didn't make it in time for the race and instead had a practice sail. Getting to know a new boat has had it's challenges. Everything is in a new location, things aren't set up yet, etc... but we will get there, and I know it will get easier. We did have a good practice sail, and were able to reef the sail. We all have gotten a chance to drive the boat, and hopefully we'll be more ready for our first Beer Can on Wednesday! Let's just make sure that when we plug the electric into the boat, that we turn the power to "on" before we leave for the night! HA!

I almost forgot...

The double cannon salute to the Islanders...

"arrrrrrr, thar she blows"




"Fire the cannons"

More of a salute than a pirate attack...

Sunday Sailing 2009

It was a great day for race committee on Maskwa... 17 boats! On the way back in, we ran into Dark Island... it looks great... but what are all those clothes tied up to the life lines?! They sure look wet!
















Check these out

Crew Party

A HUGE thanks to Diane and Kurt for a fabulous crew party on Saturday! We were all able to make it and we are ready to start the season.


Matt, tell us more stories about roller furling... It sounded like it was a rough day - 3 times to get it right?! Aren't there only 2 different ways to roll it? Well then, that means...

Happy Day #148!!

The Birth of Dark Island's Blog

This is the first post for the Dark Island sailing crew. We used to sail on a boat called "Chip's Ahoy" - now we've upgraded to Dark Island - from cookies to Islanders. Dark Island was actually delivered last fall, but this is really the first season.

This is Dark Island sitting in the river at Crowleys. We are the dark blue hull. I'll, try to post a better picture soon.

The Islanders are:

Tom - the captain who needs to be constantly reminded that his job is to "drive the boat". He doesn't do much else... HA!















Judy - the other captain who keeps order on the boat and really works to keep the boat light (in terms of weight not brightness)...HA HA!



Matt, Diane, Keri, Scott, Sara - the crew - we all "chip" in where we're needed.



















Today was the delivery of Dark Island - from Crowley's Yacht Yard to Burnham Park. It was cold and rainy, and we motored the entire way. Vamonos! launched at the same time as us - Matt couldn't figure out what the carrot was for...


When we got into the slip, we feasted on various crustaceans - both fried and smoked. Yum! Good thing we had a microwave on board to reheat everything. A microwave?! Yes, we have all the modern conveniences - microwave, stove, oven, refrigerator, heat and air-conditioning. We're a lot better than the other boats out there. HAHA... Maskwa, you can sit in our air-conditioning when it gets too hot on your boat.

So that's it for now. "Sea" you on the water! We love puns!