Stardate 12016.1

Captain's Log: Stardate 12016.1
With the Enterprise's facilities awaiting a new head with a working electronic controller board, along with the growing concern of using a bucket as a temporary replacement, the ship remains in spacedock for the next couple of weeks. Today, however, was to be the third and fourth races in the VSS Spring Series (yes, it's February), and Captain Gately was kind enough to invite me on board the USS Fruition for the day.

Turns out that one of the marks, A, is gone, and Captain Gately had volunteered us on a mission to drop a temporary around two miles away. However, with Fruition's new impulse drive not being fully broken in yet, RPMs had to be kept down and this was shaping up to be a slow voyage. The further we got from shore, the breeze increased to an average of 19, with gusts well into the 20s. Waves were well over 6 feet at times. Fun.

And then I was told that if it is over 20, VSS cancels its races.

I found that somewhat surprising, even though the wind heavily-favored the bigger boats. As I pointed out: Do you know what they call a day where it blows over 20 in San Francisco? They call that Saturday.

And I know how well the Enterprise does in over 20. Over 25 and we exceed established warp limits.

Anyway, after countless attempts to hail John Lynch, we were notified to not drop the mark and the races were cancelled for the day. And then we began our slow roll-y trek back home. It was disappointing, but I get it.

Fruition's crew does seem like a great bunch and it would have been fun to race with them. I can't say what the average age on board was, but I've seen younger faces on money. Anyway, assuming the new head doesn't surprisingly arrive early, hopefully I'll get to sail with Fruition next week.

In the meantime, it looks like I'll be meeting with VSS's top brass to work with them on co-sponsoring a regatta in April. Red Alert! Shields Up! All crew to battlestations!

Stardate 12010.7

Captain's Log: Stardate 12010.7
Yesterday marked the first time in almost four years that the Starship Enterprise went racing -- but this time in the sky-blue pristine waters outside of Venice, Florida -- a stark contrast to the murky dark-brown septic-tank-quality waters around City Island.

The challenge here isn't so much the actual racing (triangle courses with a pursuit start system) but in obtaining crew. Through the club's membership, we were able to obtain John Delappa, a skilled Tartan 37 owner, and Tom Leonnard (see my earlier log entry about jingle-bell underwear.) With me and my wife Ellen, that would give us four. Barely enough, especially in a real breeze.

Desperate times call for desperate actions, I suppose. So, I sent a landing party to beam over to to the USS Fruition in the middle of the night to loosen her engine's head gasket and fill the piston chambers with water.

And then, boom, we had joining the team Captain Bill Gately, Mike Kirk, and Shaun Graser, all from Fruition, and all looking for a boat to sail on while Fruition is hauled for weeks, getting a new engine installed.

Shaun Graser volunteered to handle the Enterprise's main, and did so to perfection. Shaun is the club's former Fleet Captain Sail and Commodore, which made us wonder what crimes he committed to warrant a judge to order such a punitive level of community service.

Mike Kirk is a former C&C 27 owner out of the middle of Long Island Sound. All in all, a pleasure to have on board, and, I must admit, there was something oddly familiar about having someone named Kirk on board the Enterprise-B. I just hoped we didn't encounter any Nexus energy ribbons while en route to the start line.

Then there's Bill Gately, the Captain of the Fruition, who is probably the saltiest New England sailor I've ever met. I can't think of any way that sailing with Bill could be better, except, maybe that damn accent - "Ya gaht eleven minutes and fauty sehcehnds to yah stahrt" and so on.

Bill is very proud of his crew, and Fruition, a 1981 Serendipty 41, and boasts about them and the boat at every opportunity. At one point, someone asked if there was a way to sheet the jib a little further outbound (which there is not). Bill proudly exclaimed, "On my boat, I have another track for the jib cars."

To which I replied, "Yeah, well, on my boat, I have a working engine."

Unfortunately, Tom hurt his back and sent a subspace message that he was not going to make it, opting instead for a day on his couch watching Star Trek. But, we had six, and that was going to work.

We had two races yesterday, and it was becoming clear who our standard nemeses would be -- A low-rated rocket named Regen-e and another C&C named "Spray". We didn't do bad for our first foray into this zone (two fourths,) but with a little work and a dedicated team, I think we can be a real contender, possibly adding a pickle dish or two to the trophy case someday.

When we returned to the dock, I started my mental list of things that I need to fix before the next race, while mass quantities of Heineken were consumed and Shaun began to explain what his daughter does for a living. I didn't catch all of it, but something about the supervision of ordering thousands of red shirts to meet retail orders. Something about that, the large quantities of red shirts, sent chills down my spine.



All in all, a great day. We can't wait for the next one.