It has been awhile since my last post; no On the Brink has not sunk, I've just been too busy to get online to make a post. Over the last few weeks I finally got the atomic 4 sorted out, two stuck exhaust valves are to blame. After a weekend of work I got everything moving smoothly again and the motor sounds like a motor, not some broken tractor. Currently I'm in the middle of an oil change that is only made more difficult by the water in the crank case turning the oil to sludge. Hopefully I'll get it complete this evening.
Sailing has been great the past few weeks, Laura and I are getting much more comfortable which makes everything more fun. We got in a bit of trouble two weeks ago when the weather turned for the worst. We went out with a flattening reef in due to some 15+ mph winds and all was fine at first. Slowly the winds started picking up to 20mph+ with even stronger gusts. I ran up to put in the first reef which was much more difficult since I've never done it before, now I understand why everyone says reef early. The wind kept being difficult, constantly changing directions, stopping and then blowing. We headed back to the harbor pretty quickly, what was at first fun sailing in some heavy winds became difficult and just a plain old fight. We made it back to the harbor and put everything away. As we were at the dock we saw sailboat after sailboat coming in, all of the crews looking a bit haggard. I'm glad we were not the only ones! As it turns out, the winds picked up significantly after we got back 25+mph with 35mph gusts. With the rapidly changing directions and strong winds it was dangerous and I'm glad we went back when we did. The lesson learned here was not only to reef early but to also practice at the dock so it's easy to do out on the lake instead of having to figure it out.
We are looking forward to the Air and Water show weekend of 8/17. Laura and I are getting a handful of friends together and heading up to the playpen to watch the show and play all day long. I'll be sure to put some photos up when I get a chance.
