Updates

Well it is about time that an update is in order. I sailed last Thursday for the first races in the DIYC Thursday Night Racing series. We practiced on Cool Change the Sunday before, doing nothing but Spinnaker gybes back and forth, up and down the bay. That practice obviously came in very handy as well had a spectacular race this past Thursday. We led our competition and even ended up in the middle of the fleet that started ahead of us.

I am into my 3rd week of the USPS Piloting course and it is very cool. I'm learned how to chart lattitude and longitude, measure distance and use a plotter to determine true and magnetic bearing. All good so far and very interesting. I will say that it is kind of a pain in the ass to work out of two books but that's the way it's structured. I did get the results of my USPS Weather Course Exam and I got a 95, only missing 5 question. Two of those were related to reading the surface analysis, so my answers were in the back park with regard to where the wind was going and where it was coming from. I mean come on there is not a whole lot of difference in answering W versus WSW. Never the less, I'll take it.

After the Piloting course is over, I look forward to reviewing the weather material from scratch again, just to make sure I have a good handle on it. I have found this material very interesting. I've even given some of the Thursday Night crew a lesson on weather each time we have been out, and now that seems to be expected of me. It's a great way to review.

In the interest of not making this all text or about me, I've posted a new link to one of the latest videos from the America's Cup AC45 boats. Check it out, if there is anyone out there...

Sailing

Well here is the latest update on my current activities. My sister is still in the long recovery process so I have been spending my Friday nights and the better part of my Saturdays at their house helping to watch over the girls, my nieces. I did take my final exam for the USPS Weather course and am waiting for the final results. I think I did very well and the final week of review and re-reading everything was a tremendous help. I find myself mentally reviewing what I have learned and have been trying to make it a morning habit of looking at synoptic surface maps of current conditions and also looking at forecast information for the Tampa Bay area, which is home for me. I have some cool weather links on the side of this blog for anyone who may be interested in following along and getting the information.

I have found a real interest in understanding the weather and look forward to reviewing the course manual once I have some more time. Right now that does not seem very possible because immediately after the weather course, the Tampa Power Squadron started the Piloting course and I am taking that course now. I think I am well on my way of meeting the goal to have weather and piloting done by end of the year. The only thing left for the yearly goal would be to get advanced piloting done but I'm leaning towards making that happen towards the end of the year. My immediate plan is to finish piloting and spend the next couple of months reviewing the weather and piloting course material again.

As far as sailing goes, we were not able to practice last Thursday because a bad storm that rolled into the area and cause a lot of rain and other not so good things. Needless to say that sailing was not going to happen given those conditions. I must say that it was kind of cool to look at forecast maps and make the determination that I knew it was going to be ugly.

The group from Cool Change did meet this past Sunday to practice Spinnaker Gybes both in theory and on the water. It was pretty good and we were able to shake the dust off our skills and get it done. The first of this season's Thursday Night Races at DIYC is this coming Thursday and I'm looking forward to it. I especially look forward to my forecasting the conditions and determining how right or wrong I am going to be.