Category: Life
2019 Washington DC Trip
I got to join Jess for a trip to DC for a long weekend. She has a tradition of taking a Friday off every year and visiting a museum with Farley and this year we visited the Museum of Natural History and saw the exhibits for fossils and diamonds.
In the afternoon we visited the National Gallery of art and focused on the 17-18 century Italian, 18-19th century French tour, Dutch and Flemish galleries and 17th centuries sculptures. Jess had some pieces that she had read about so we all played scavenger hunt to find them.
We tied to go to Jazz in the garden, but a few minutes after it started a thundercloud rolled south of us and so the event was cancelled. Nevertheless we improvised and ended up having dinner on the roof at Neil’s. We followed that by an improv comedy show that Celeste was in.
Saturday was brunch, shopping in Mount Vernon, lunch and going to Neil and Sonya’s engagement party. And Sunday Jess and I went running around the tidal basin and visited a market and a bookstore before making our way home.
2019 Jackson River Trail Half Marathon
Saturday I ran the Jackson River Trail Half Marathon. I’ve had a half marathon on my bucket list for a while and since I had a free weekend – this was the only one going on in the state – so I went. The Jackson River Trail is a rails to trail path in Covington VA almost to West Virginia. Even this time of the summer it was cool mid-60s to start and the trail is almost entirely shaded so we never got that much sun or heat.
I started out great and got with a group to pace myself around 8:40 and not run too fast. That worked for a about 6 or 7 miles when I learned it was in fact too fast and I started to fall apart from there. I made it through, I learned a lot, and now I have a benchmark to try and beat and improve my time.
2019 Anthem Corporate Run
It was a hot night for a run – this year’s Anthem Corporate Run was another muggy night in Innsbrook with dozens of companies represented. I’ve been doing a lot of running the past few weeks and I used this as and opportunity to beat my 5k time. I started out a little too fast running the first mile in 7:10. I slowed up a bit as the race went on and finished in 23:29 – which was good enough for 8th fastest at my company. The party afterward was well attended and it was fun catching up with past colleagues and friends at various companies.
2019 FBYC Laser Training
FBYC was doing a Race Committee training day which made it a great opportunity for Jess and me to get out in Lasers with the rest of the fleet to do some starting practice and very short course racing.
Holly & Ned’s Wedding
Our friends Holly and Ned got married at Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville and we had a wonderful time celebrating their marriage. From the pretty decorations to the fun party antics – we had a great time. Congrats Holly & Ned!
2019 Paddleboarding
This week we got a new Stand Up Paddle board to use down by the river. I found a deal on one we liked by Isle that should be a good all-around beginner board. We took it to the river and Jess and I both got to try it out on a beautiful day. Lucky for us we stayed upright and didn’t fall in as the jelly fish in the creek were unreal. Looking for many more weekend mornings of paddling.
2019 Memorial Day Weekend
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We started the weekend hosting a cookout for the YAM group at FBYC in what has become a Memorial Day Weekend tradition. We had great weather and a nice turnout.
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Saturday was to be power boat day getting Jess’s father out in his power boat for the first time. We got it in the water just fine and motored out into the creek and the newly rebuilt engine ran just fine. While out there I checked the bilge and saw a lot more water than we should have seen for only being in the water for 15 minutes. We could see the thru-hull that water was seeping around and the bilge could keep up with it, but we headed back to the ramp anyway. Back at the ramp I touched the thru-hull fitting for the raw-water intake for the bait wells and it disintegrated leaving 1/2 inch hole for water to come through. We quickly put the boat back on the trailer and gave up hope of power boating this weekend while seeking professional help.
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Later in the day Jess and I went for a swim in the creek and Jess’s father was give a dozen crabs caught by a neighbor that we scrambled to figure out how to cook for dinner. We ended the night cooking smores on a fire down by the water.
Sunday we sailed the Snipe in the Open House Regatta. Monday we visited the Hallieford beach and then did boat-work – we added fiberglass to reinforce the back deck of the snipe.
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2019 Open House Regatta
This year for Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s Open House Regatta – Jess and I finally got the Snipe out for this event. This was a progressive start race and we just barely made our start time. The wind started out good out of the west and we had more of it to work with as one of the first boats to start.
By the time we round Piankatank 8 we had passed the boats ahead of us and had a few shining moments in the lead before the big boats rolled us. We got through 80% of the course and were just off Stove Point when the wind shut off again. At the prospect of sitting out there for a while and missing the raft up – we dropped out and took a tow in.
The raft up was fun as ever and we got to cruise on Mad Hatter for ride back around afterward.
2019 FBYC One Design Spring Series #2
We got Jess’s snipe back in the water for the first time this year. We made some upgrades – mainly new halyards and halyard turning blocks in the mast.
We got to FBYC early for the One Design Spring Series #2 event – Jess towed the boat behind the jeep for the first time – and we got everything rigged and in the water. We were a little late to the start of racing and caught the 3rd race. We were in the Portsmouth class with two San Juan 21s.
We were about halfway up the first leg when the halyard that we had just installed broke – putting our jib in the water. We attempted to sail under main alone, but got stuck in irons and so far behind we gave up on that race. For the next race I drove under main alone around the short 2 lap windward leeward. We still managed to beat the San Juan 21s around the course, but one of them corrected on time to tie with us so we got a 1.5 for the one race we finished.