Vento Solare is finally launched! Normally this is just a check in the box but this year a major milestone. The week prior to Easter I felt miserable and had no energy. After a couple of calls to the doctor on separate days, I went to the Emergency room at Newport Hospital on Friday and ended up spending 5 days over Easter in the ICU being treated for pneumonia. I am feeling much better now but have about a 6 week period as my energy level and lung capacity gets back to normal. Let’s just say that grandpa is taking lots of naps these days.
Anyway, all this would not be possible without the help of Gardner Howe and my son-in-law Scott Moeller who spent a day at the boat wet sanding to be ready for launch.
Gardner & Scott Wet Sanding
My duties were to change out the paper and spray the hose since I didn’t have the strength to do any sanding. It was a beautiful sunny day and with the well coordinated team was able to complete sanding with 320, 400 and 600 grit in three hours.
I also want to acknowledge Trevor DiMarco and Pat Tormey (with Scott & Gardner) for their help prepping the boat with me before I ended up in the hospital. Vento Solare is very ready for the season with just a few topside cosmetic tasks to be done. Plans are to find a nice day this coming week to bring Vento Solare to her slip at the Navy marina. Our first crew practice is Tuesday, April 25th. Looking forward to seeing you all and being on the water again.
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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.