J24 North Americans Maine 9/10-9/13 (sailing)

The J24 North Americans were in Falmouth Maine this year. I went on "Spooky" with John, Jill, Doug, and Dave. Two other boats drove down from VT (Jam and Ice Cube). The regatta was four days and about 50 boats were racing.
The drive down wasn't completely uneventful. The tread pealed off one of the trailer tires in one large piece. Luckily it didn't blow and we had a spare and good tools. Back on the road in 20 minutes and at Handy's Boat in Yarmouth ME around the time we expected. We quickly put the boat together and went out for a practice race in what turned out to be nice wind. Good to get out and check out the boat since we realized there were no sail numbers on the sails we were using. Lobster pot buoys all over the place which was an added distraction while sailing.
Thu was light air and we had one race out in the bay area before heading in. Fri the wind was up and they ran 4 races, again in the bay area. We had some damage at the beginning of race 2 which caused us to miss two of the races. The front metal support that holds up the forestay got twisted and all of the screws, except one, pulled out. We quickly took down the sails and headed back to shore. After a quick repair we were back out for race 4 which went fairly well and was a good ending to a long day.
Sat was a very nice sunny day with reasonable wind. We went out to the ocean through Hussy Sound. Saw two dolphins out there and someone spotted a whale although I did not see that. We also saw a number of sea lions over the course of the regatta. Sat was 2 long races with a nice sail out and back around the islands. Sun was what I think of as typical Maine weather. Foggy with light drizzle all day. It made it harder to navigate and see the marks but a nice day of racing in decent wind.
The regatta was held at the Portland Yacht Club. Nice spot. Lots of good food and drink over the course of the regatta. Sat night they cooked 450 lobsters on metal grates over a fire. Corn, Potatoes, clams, and seaweed was added to the lobsters and the whole thing was covered in foil. Very good!
In the pictures below we are bow 23 and sail number 1048.
Some pictures taken by Jill:

Some regatta photos:

Adirondack Hike - Esther, Whiteface

Esther, Whiteface link

Before work Camels Hump

It has been hot for about a week. Highs of 85 pretty much every day which is unusual for VT in early Sept. The following week looks like more of the same. Good weather to go hiking early in the AM. That works if you want to get to work also. It was about 65 degrees in the parking lot at 6AM and humid. T shirt weather at the top. Nice hazy sunrise and a lot of fog in the valleys that you could see from the top.

Mansfield: Halfway House->Cliff

Mt Mansfield with a variation I had not done before. Went along the CC road from the park and then went up Halfway House to the ridge. Followed the ridge to the top of the auto road. From the parking lot you go down the road a little and take a left to get to Cliff. Cliff is an interesting trail. It works its way along the ski area side of the mountain. It goes through a number of caves and weaves its way along the steep terrain over near the gondola. One cave is so narrow that I had to take my pack off and push it along in front of me to get through. It then heads back up to near the trail that leads to the top of Mansfield. It was an interesting day with clear moments and some interesting cloud formations coming through. Ended up going down Sunset Ridge from the top. A nice loop.

Looking at top of Gondola from Cliff trail

Looking out from a cave (Cliff trail)

New zip line near top of Gondola

Jefferson, Clay, Washington NH

Took Friday off and went to the Presidential range in NH. Warmest in the AM at the base with the temperature about 60. At the top of Mt Washington, and most of the ridge walking it was 45-50 degrees with 40-60 mph winds. I had my winter hat on most of the time on the ridge.
Went up Washington on the Tuckerman ravine trail. There was a chunk of snow maybe 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep at the base of the head wall (July 31). The wind picked up at the base of the ravine and the temperatures dropped so it made for a quick trip up to the top of Washington. From Washington I took the gulf side trail to Jefferson. Very windy and in the clouds for some of the walk to Jefferson. The top of Jefferson and Clay kept appearing and disappearing. Sometimes you could see the whole ridge and other times you could only see the next cairn. After Jefferson I went back on the Gulf side trail and took the loop up Mt Clay. Mt Clay has great views of Mt Washington and most of the rest of the Presidential's. No one on Clay. Compare that to the 500 people that were on the top of Washington when I got back up to the top! Went by the cog RR chugging up on the way back to Washington. From Washington I went over to the boot spur trail and down. Boot spur has great views of tuckermans ravine and huntington ravine. A 16 mile trip taking 10 hours (8AM - 6PM). Interesting day to spend so may hours above tree line with the view constantly changing.

Looking up at Tuckermans

Snow 7/31

Looking down the headwall

Going up Jefferson

Clay

Picture of picture in museum at top of Washington. Shows most of the range in winter.

Coming off top of Washington

Looking down boot spur

Washington and tuckermans ravine