08/04/2025
Admiral Penny's chronicle (25 July to 2nd Aug).
We decided to defer our standing rigging change another week to stay on schedule for Lakeport's Music in the Park, the Tule Boat Festival, and to just keep the sailing light and non-commercial until our rigging is new and tuned nicely. Taitano continues to point upwind horribly -- a mix of stretched standing rigging, carrying lots of gear (greater immersion & drag), and need to haul her out for belly scrubbing of growth slowing her down. Recently we're dragging large patches of grass and weeds along the keel -- disrupting hydrodynamics and costing us top speed. She's slowing down too fast on turns upwind (tacking). Performance greatly degraded but no reason to stop non-commercial sails.
Thursday (July 24) was a few hours of voyage and troll fishing to Konocti Vista's marina. Friday night (July 25) we motor-sailed to Lakeport for Music in the Park. Then up early for the Tule Festival.
Saturday, July 26, we enjoyed the Tule Festival and then orbited Taitano offshore just looping around initially motoring and then motor-sailing as the races were underway. Helps block the point off from bass and ski boats coming fast around the blind corner. Admiral Penny opted to stay home and rest since the day was hot and she'd be bored waiting in the boat. After the races, Stan headed out to just relax in the sun and sail drift fish awhile. Then headed home.
Sunday morning (July 27) -- Stan and Penny headed out for a few hours of some sunrise fishing between Konocti Vista's marina and the Lands End channel area. Stan hooked a nice sized catfish that broke his 6lb. line rigged for bass. The other rod setup for catfish nothing bit. The whole area is nicely filled with Blue Gill beds north of Konocti Vista Casino and Resort which are often feeding grounds for larger bass. Both bass and catfish were present on sonar in the Lands End channel area, but it is also filled with tall grass in areas. On the way out a patch tangled up in our propeller, so we limped home rather than dealing with it on the water since so close. Near sunset, Stan then joined Capt. Larry and his grandson on leave from the USMC on just a dreamy sail on their Cal 21 in nice winds, gusts, and chop. A great training day for them both. We bashed around in the Buckingham Narrows chop and gusts, then hid from it in the wind block of the peninsula, and then we ran "The Gauntlet" through Andersen and Dollar Islands a couple times in beautifully strong wind and gusts. It was a beautiful struggle! Great team work just to keep out of knockdown or run aground. Stalls, spin arounds, botched tacks, emergency gybe escapes, steep heeling over, wind on and off, no wind and then too much wind. Plenty of workout and lots of lessons packed into a single outing. 🥳 Was mostly a good rest for Stan with occasional need to assist as crew since Capt. Larry is doing great as a former windsurfer and his son & grandson are enjoying sailing.
Friday (Aug 1st)-- Late afternoon departure from Konocti Vista's marina to Lakeport for Music in the Park. Met up with some Lakeport Yacht Club members in Sailor Mike's boat (Seraphis). Visited with family friends and other pals catching the music. The LYC pirates tried to surprise attack us with water cannons and buckets on the way out despite our unarmed status and having come in peace. 🙈 Admiral Penny maneuvered Taitano and evaded their attacks each time. Stan made sure to mock them and give them the FU highly visible arm gesture on the way out. 🤣 Then, we motor-sailed home in the dark with some moonlight. After closing up, Stan and Penny chatted with two bass boaters and wound up fixing their electrical problem with running lights until 1 a.m.
Saturday (Aug 2nd) -- Departed Konocti Vista's marina on a voyage around Buckingham to Konocti Harbor for lunch. No time to pack in fishing since getting a later start. Faint wind and somewhat hot running downwind (motor-sailing to not take forever and keep cooler). Picked up a little wind and sailed a bit enroute to Konocti Harbor Resort. Made a beautifully soft landing. Bought fuel. Enjoyed their food and love the view from the big waterfront window. Waited on Joe Weber's arrival to come with us for the rest of the voyage. On setting up to depart, the Richmond Park Bar and Grill flag we fly smacked Joshua Lee in the face and knocked his eyeglasses overboard. We tried to find them with the underwater camera rigged up to a net and poles, but they were hopelessly lost in sediment and the murky depths below. 🙈 From there, we proceeded on to the Scandanavian Club and met with Rick, a past commodore of Konocti Bay Sailing Club. We crashed their party, said hello, and dropped off Konocti Sailing rack cards for their clubhouse. Then we sailed in nice wind and gust to Richmond Park Bar and Grill. Caught the tail end of some live music. Joe had a beer. Stan had a strawberry daquiri (a craving of his lately in the heat). Watered it down awhile and then sailed home in really nice winds and dreamy conditions -- beautiful sun setting, good times with friends. Boat sailing not so good upwind. A gust blew overboard our bow line in "elephant ears" configuration for foreign docks which had to be untangled from the engine and rudder. We suffered difficulty performing tacking upwind probably from dragging a large patch of grass needing to be untangled from the keel....plus a dirty hull needing scrubbing....plus standing rigging needing better tension (saggy sails). Would have taken forever to get home and we needed help Josh drive home before dark, so motor sailed back to harbor as the sun was setting. Good times. Delivered our rack cards to our most common stops on the western lake.
This week: Less goofing off and more work. New rigging and hull cleaning. Restoration of upwind performance. Cleanup of our dude & fishing mess. Readying Taitano for more tours. Reconfiguring Admiral Penny's deck gun for single-handed operation so no longer dependent on a gun crew. And then she intends to show the Lakeport Yacht Club pirates that Admiral Penny has not yet even begun to fight.
The admiral is tired of fleeing from their treacherous attacks. When next we meet, they will know our name, blared music, and battle flag as their dread. 🥳 They attack at us ruthlessly by surprise and run us off with sq**rt guns and water buckets. It's time they "say hello to Admiral Penny's little friend"! 😂 We have endured their hospitality🥰 and then vicious attacks repeatedly on exit or anywhere in proximity 🙈and tried to be peaceful, but that has only been to secure the moral high ground. Under rules of the admiralty and the civilized, Admiral Penny does not engage in dishonorable surprise attacks. We raise our black flag. We blare the Viking and Scottish war tunes and drums....plus the infrasonic tiger roars during attack which induces psychological paralysis in the enemy. Our approach brings on anxiety and dread. Taitano's attack range is longer than their own, no little sq**rt gun blasting, enough to put out a fire, and we will keep them shooting upwind at us, too. Admiral Penny does not ruthlessly assault the unarmed and helpless. We do not make war until it is time and unless the black flag is flying. We will honorably broadside them, hard, and you can watch them cry😭 soon. We didn't pick the fight, but now they have one! Admiral Penny hasn't even unleashed the air attacks by drone. Since they like to fight so much, we are hoping to instigate an all out war between Lakeport Yacht Club, Konocti Bay Sailing Club, and Konocti Sailing fleets at all times for all future summers.😂
