Even though spring doesn’t officially arrive until 20 March, it looks like we’ve broken out of the Arctic chill that was preventing moving forward on projects to get J/109 Vento Solare launched. Thanks to Larry’s help on 14 March, the boat cover is off, the speakers are back on the rail so we have tunes while working, the sail drive is back together and the bottom has been sanded in preparation for painting.
Over the next couple of weeks more boat projects are planned to support launching the first week of April. If anyone is available to help, the following tasks need to be done.
- Hull wax & buff
- Bottom painting – a dry day after paint is purchased at the Defender Sale 28 March
- Wet sanding bottom
- Pressure wash and clean topside
- Topside wax & buff
- Polish topside stainless
- Mount safety stuff on rail (lifesling, etc.)
- Flush water system and fill water tank
- Declutter boat and clean inside
After launch, J/109 Vento Solare needs to conduct speed, wind & compass calibration to setup the new B&G instruments. I’ll be looking for folks who want to go out on the water for that. We’ll know dates better as we get closer to launch.
Sometime the week of 8-12 April J/109 Vento Solare will sail from Borden Light Marina to the Navy Marina on a nice weather day. If anyone is interested in making the voyage, send Bill an email.
You’ll see that a Pleasure Cruise Around Newport has been added to the calendar at 2pm Saturday 13 April. If you are interested in joining, please set your availability for the event at this link.
Recent Comments
A great day to be out sailing for the 2024 maiden voyage. We helped Blue Skies pushed off the dock at 1100, then were soon underway. We put up the main and unfurled the jib on a reach as soon as we were clear of Borden Light Marina. SOG was 9+ knots for a portion of the trip. We arrived at the Navy Marina at 1320 - pretty good time!
The delivery crew: Scott, Burch, Jack, Steve & Bill
A great weekend on Block Island with Kathy, Claire & Bill. Great race results and appetizer contest results. We were fortunate to have the blender and the heater on the boat. After a nice weekend on Block Island we had a fast ride back with everyone taking time on the helm.
A few pictures from our family sail on Grandpa's birthday weekend. Unfortunately hurricane Ophelia changed our plans for a weekend on Block Island. We did a Friday evening sail in Newport, grabbed a mooring for cocktails and dinner, then went back to our slip at the Navy marina. We stayed on the boat Friday night and went to the YMCA for Isla's soccer which was moved to the indoor gym.
Underway on Vento Solare with Grandpa, Kai, Daddy & Isla
Enjoying appetizers in Newport Harbor before sunset.
Family dinner on Vento Solare while on the mooring.
Kai's note to Grandpa for his birthday weekend.
A great weekend of racing with everybody with Vento Solare finishing 2nd place overall. Crew work was fantastic all three days. Starting from the bow with Roland, mast with Will, pit with Andrew, trimming with Sarah & Mary, and main / tactics with Trevor (Jeff Roy for Around the Island on Friday). We saw the full spectrum of wind from 5 to 22 kts over 3 days.
Congrats to Divided Sky who put up all first place finishes. The rest of the class including J/109 URSA, J/99 Upbeat, Sunfast 3300 Avalon and Express 37 COUCOU all provided the challenge as fierce competitors.