Dear Friend of CHARIAD: The 2021 sailing season is finally underway. CHARIAD won its first race – and won big. The Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead hosted its annual Summerset Regatta this past Sunday. The course was a 21 miles shallow triangle down towards Boston and back. Winds mostly from the SE 10 to 13 knots. OK, our team performance was “uneven” to start. How do we do that [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: The Mighty CHARIAD swims. She was launched last week. She is now on the dock at the Beverlyport Marina ready to go sailing – almost. The CHARIAD crew completed spring assembly on the dock this past Saturday. For me, the most fearful unknowns each spring are: will the engine start?; and can we get the halyards down from the top of the mast? Yes, the [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: 2020 is behind us and we have made it to Feb of 2021. We are weeks away from warm weather and not a whole winter away. And folks, our most vulnerable first, are now getting the COVID vaccine. All good things to report. CHARIAD Wins Another Award The Boston Yacht Club awarded CHARIAD its Lillie Trophy for the best handicap race performance by a BYC [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: Hope & Joy. This year, 2020, has been difficult for everyone worldwide. This is a year we will remember and talk about for the rest of our lives. My dear friend Regina Flynn captured this image of the light house at Winter Island in Salem, MA. The Christmas wreath, the snow, the beacon of light, and the wonder of the open water bring to me [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: (Please start using my new Rick100Williams@gmail.com email) The CHARIAD crew held its annual end of the season crew dinner (brunch this year) at the Boston YC on Sunday. The BYC gave us the entire downstairs dining room for the gathering. The trophies we won were on display plus a slide show of photos from our sailing. I hope to get the sideshow into a format [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: While searching for a contact on LinkedIn, I clicked on a profile and to my surprise found this photograph as the guy’s background. I soon remembered that he was a Friend of CHARIAD. Fun pop for my day. CHARIAD is now on the hard for the winter. Sad to see snow in October and CHARIAD out of the water. This is a year we will [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: CHARIAD made her fall migration from Marblehead Harbor to Beverly on Sunday. Chris Hardy went up the mast to get the wind instruments. We took pictures of the rigging in hopes we would remember how to put it back together in the spring. I fundamentally do not trust engines, particularly on boats. Taking the sails off the boat and motoring to Beverly was traumatic for [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: Let’s go with Saturday for the Social Sail. The forecast dropped the temperature prediction for Sunday by 10 degrees. Saturday will be sunny, warm, and breezy. Many of you came back to me saying that you probably could join this caper Sat or Sun. Please confirm your availability for Saturday. My expectation is that more folks will be able to sail than we can accommodate. [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: The forecast for this weekend is promising for a Social Sail Sat or Sun. Too early to set this in concrete, but let me know if you can join the caper for Sat or Sun. I want to get a rough head count. For obvious reasons, we do not want to have a large outing. If you want to go, let me know sooner than [...]
Dear Friend of CHARIAD: The CHARIAD Team won its final race – a real race – on Sunday. Super performance. The Marblehead Chowder Cup Challenge was sponsored by the Eastern YC. Almost perfect conditions – 10 knt winds from the NE. Four 1.5 mile legs up and back – windward/leeward. Here we are coming to the finish in the photo above. I probably should not share this, but we [...]
