A windy Memorial Day weekend in Boston

Over the Memorial Day weekend we had high winds in Boston. There was a low pressure system to the east over the Atlantic that brought cold, wet windy weather - perfect conditions to sail. On Saturday and Sunday we sailed locally in Boston harbor, but on Monday with a little sun and slightly warmer temperatures we ventured out to the Graves and back. At times we had steady winds of 35 knots and sailed at times with only a main sail. There was one memorable moment where using a partially reefed mainsail we had a strong gust and heeled over for a sustained rail dip. Its on days like this that you know you are alive!

We passed our friends Bob and Linda on Fujin and took pictures of one another.


On Memorial Day we set sail early in search of a whale that was reported in the harbor (none were seen by us). At around 10am this is the view looking back onto downtown Boston from the inner harbor.

These are pictures of Prairie Gold on Sunday May 26th 2013

This is a view of Boston on Memorial Day as we look back to the downtown area from the inner harbor.

As we were heading east we caught sight of Fujin heading back into Boston.

We sailed out of the north changel past The Graves and then re-entered the harbor on the southern approach past Boston Light. Here you can see boston light with Boston 5 nm in the background.



One of the local schooners that takes tourists out in the harbor.

And as we returned to the inner harbor, we saw Fujin heading out on a charter.

Making the Volvo 65 sails and boats for the Volvo Ocean race

The Volvo Ocean race will happen in 2014-15 and they are hard at work making a series of one class boats. Check out this sequence of volvo ocean racing videos

Boston Sailing Charter – All Hands Sailing

Yesterday on my return from a wet, but windy sailing trip I bumped into Captain Bob whose boat “Fujin” is docked 2 slips from “Prairie Gold”. We had a good chat about his sailing and enjoyment of charter trips. I can highly recommend Captain Bob to you if you are interested in a sailing charter in the Boston area. He is an excellent sailor, has a great sense of humor and has good knowledge of the various islands and history. Here is a link to his charter company website “All Hands Sailing Charters” .

Sail Repaired

Last weekend you may remember we got a tear in our 135 genoa. Rather than take it to a sail loft we ordered parts and set about the task of repairing the genos. We ordered 3 inch width adhesive backed dacron sail fabric, sail thread, and got some rubbing alcohol. First we cleaned the sail with the alcohol, then cut the dacron to size (and rounded the corners) and stuck the dacron tape to both sides of the sail. The final step was to sew the dacron to the sail. It all went smoothly. Now all we need to do is test the sail. Thanks to Yolande for her superior sewing skills.

Sailing again! Now Yolande just needs to stitch the torn sail and we will be back in full business

We got our 90 percent jib out of storage and brought her to Prairie Gold

Tear in headsail. We had great winds today but had to cut trip short

Sailing back to Boston

In Boston harbor laundry detergent bottles act as Lobster pot buoys.

First Evening Sail of 2013

WE took a friend out for his first sail with us and the wind was whipping through. We all had a great time, making it back in time, after dusk, to get to a local bar for a beer and to watch the Bruins have an amazing comeback victory int he Stanley Cup playoffs. Next expected good wind day is Wednesday. See you then.

First sail of the season

We will now begin using the SPOT messenger system to track our course. Follow us by clicking the SPOT link to the right of the page.

Repair time

All new seasons include commissioning. This year has had a few additional items to take care of. The raw water pump which pumps seawater through the engine heat exchange system had developed a serious leak and corrosion. We managed to express in a new pump and fit her to the engine pretty quickly and that issue is now fixed. During hurricane Sandy last year our spinnaker halyard got some significant chafing so that had to be replaced. Since it was still intact it was a simple job of buying new halyard and sticking the old and the new end-to-end so that the new halyard could be pulled through the mast. Thankfully all went well and there was no need to climb the mast. Another maintenance item has been to tighten the helm cables. This years preparation of the boat was much more rushed than usual due to a longer winter than the past few seasons and because of a heavy travel schedule getting in the way of working on the boat. However, we managed to get her bottom painted and in the water. Now we are addressing cosmetic items on a daily basis.