In Portland there are 4 of the 39 Olson 34's that were built by EY, 1988 - 1990.
My friend Dan emailed me last week to say that he had convinced the other two that moor near him to all go out for a group sail and also had a friend with a "photo boat" coming along. This was last Thursday evening.
Winds were pretty good for this time of year, at about 8 to 18 kts, constantly varying up n down. The others all race regularly and had their larger overlapping genoas up (about 150%, I would guess). We have a 97%.
Sure enough we slowly fell behind at the start, only holding on to them in the sustained gusts. I could whine that we were probably the one only one with a fixed 3-blade prop, too, but every loser has an excuse....
It was not a "race" per se, but we formed up at the regular starting nav. buoy and sailed to weather downriver to another rounding mark (buoy). It was outrageous fun. I had a couple of sailing buddies crewing with me, and the 80 degree windy evening was 99% perfect.
We all headed back in just about dark.
Since our relaunch in April, I have been putting the boat back together, but do not have the spinnaker and gear on board yet. Off wind, the others hoisted chutes and slowly sailed away from us. Broad reaching with main and small jib was just not as fast.
The photographer, Barbara, just forwarded some pix and the OK to share them.
We are the boat with the smaller jib and bimini, of course.... but also with refrigeration and cold microbrews. So There!
My friend Dan emailed me last week to say that he had convinced the other two that moor near him to all go out for a group sail and also had a friend with a "photo boat" coming along. This was last Thursday evening.
Winds were pretty good for this time of year, at about 8 to 18 kts, constantly varying up n down. The others all race regularly and had their larger overlapping genoas up (about 150%, I would guess). We have a 97%.
Sure enough we slowly fell behind at the start, only holding on to them in the sustained gusts. I could whine that we were probably the one only one with a fixed 3-blade prop, too, but every loser has an excuse....
It was not a "race" per se, but we formed up at the regular starting nav. buoy and sailed to weather downriver to another rounding mark (buoy). It was outrageous fun. I had a couple of sailing buddies crewing with me, and the 80 degree windy evening was 99% perfect.
We all headed back in just about dark.
Since our relaunch in April, I have been putting the boat back together, but do not have the spinnaker and gear on board yet. Off wind, the others hoisted chutes and slowly sailed away from us. Broad reaching with main and small jib was just not as fast.
The photographer, Barbara, just forwarded some pix and the OK to share them.
We are the boat with the smaller jib and bimini, of course.... but also with refrigeration and cold microbrews. So There!
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O-34 weather leg.jpg91.3 KB · Views: 81
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O-34 off wind leg.jpg126.8 KB · Views: 76
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O-34 starting line.jpg256.2 KB · Views: 73
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O-34 drive to weather.jpg131.8 KB · Views: 74
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O-34 chutes up.jpg185 KB · Views: 71
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Two Olson's weather rounding.jpg128.3 KB · Views: 69
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O-34 ready to hoist.jpg189.5 KB · Views: 65
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O-34 Breakaway chute.jpg111.5 KB · Views: 77
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O-34 us, to weather.jpg105.7 KB · Views: 78
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