Friday, April 30, 2010

Lake Norman - Charlotte, NC

Friday, April 30, 2010
0910 we leave Orangeburg. Last night, we ended up changing rooms, because the TV didn't work when we came home from dinner, and the lights were a little funny – fire hazard? It was cool, because the TV didn't get very good reception anyway. We were happy to leave, since, by the morning, in the new room, the toilet wasn't working well, either….yikes! Probably not an exit we will frequent in the future.
The weather continues to be great, and the drive to Charlotte went quickly and it was a lovely day. Drove up to Lake Norman Yacht Club, (1145) and saw Jeff and Katherine Penfield setting up their boat. They informed us that Chris and Linda Danilek and their boys would be arriving later this afternoon. Joe and Stacey Brake arrived soon after we got the mast up, and we chatted for a bit. They are anxiously awaiting their new centerboard! Sweet!
We checked into the hotel (a bit early, I might say, a much better experience than last night – Priceline wins again!), had a little lunch, provisioned at the local Harris Tweeter, and went back to the club to sail (it was so nice!) and hang out for the evening. They tapped the keg and put out much more than just hors d' overs, love this southern hospitality.

SCORE!!! Priceline strikes again! A nice suite for $40 a night.


Our bathroom at home can't touch this!

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Nice little kitchenette


Here is the clubs cove with floating docks


A couple of nice shoreline spreads



Racing starts tomorrow, AFTER lunch! Maybe we'll get to the club early and take the boat out for a little tuning….

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Great 48 via Tampa and Orlando

4/24 Fleet Racing and Dave's birthday (report by Fleet Captain Andy previously posted) on a beautiful day. Used the newer boat, feels different from the Pig but was moving pretty well.
We dropped off Missy at Debo's (friends) after dinner with them at outside venue that allows dogs, The Burger Shack in Palm Harbor. Lexi and Missy were very popular, as, of course, they are very beautiful black labs. Hope Missy doesn't terrorize Hadley (their wonderful chocolate lab) too much. Since we've been fostering, Missy has grown to like other dogs much more and tends to play a lot more.

4/25 Woke up early, last bits of packing, securing the boat, making sure coolers were properly provisioned. (Ice and beer, what else do you really need on vaca?)
We stop at Hound Haven (a safe haven for dogs of all kinds) where we adopted Missy and from where we have fostered Glory, Prescott, Duke and Lexi) to drop off Lexi the wonder dog and discuss with Linda the Duke vs. Lexi dilemma. We'll see what transpires during our time in Orlando.
Arrived at The Boardwalk a little before check-in, and wanted to get the rooms set up before Dave's parents arrive. They are flying from AZ, and will be with us in Walt's World till Thursday. Right on cue, humidity and heat forecasted for the first 2 days of the visit. Yikes. Turns out it rained a bit Sunday night, but we were safely in the restaurant at dinner, it let up briefly for the short walk back to the room from one of our faves, The Big River Grill. We spent the rest of the evening catching up, unpacking, and resting up for a big day at Epcot.

4/26 We aren't the kind to set the alarm to get to the park at opening, we took our time each morning, eating a hearty breakfast, and wandered to the side entrance of the World Showcase, near France, to start the adventure. France's pretty movie was a great way to start the day, then on to the American Adventure. Made dinner reservations at Italy, for 7:45 – perfect for finishing in time to see the wonderful light show at 9:00. We had lunch in Mexico, hit a few attractions in Future World, but we started to peter out. Dave and Dad rode Mission Space, and we went back to the condo to rest before dinner. The Flower and Garden Show was a big hit, and we took many great pictures.

4/27 We decided to lay low on Tuesday, and put in some time by the pool. We also took a ride in the car to take in some sights- pools at other resorts, floor plans of new Vacation Club models, and happy hour at the Grand Floridian, with the orchestra playing. It's quite a place. Did I mention the weather has been fantastic? Not too hot, yet, and the breeze kept the humidity manageable. Dinner was pizza delivered to the room, we highly recommend local joint, Flippers.

4/28 Wednesday am, was also spent leisurely breakfasting, and more visiting at poolside. Took a ride on the boat transportation from Boardwalk, to Swan/Dolphin, and Hollywood Studios; decided to definitely make that a stop on the next visit. We ended the tour at the Dance Hall where DVC holds a member reception. We arrived in time for Kim to win a raffle prize and we were entertained by the DVC group. Free hat, too – score! All together now- "DVC is for you and me!"
Back at the room, we had a quick turnaround making some roadies for some quality time on the veranda, then into the car for a road trip to Celebration for dinner. Nighttime consisted of packing and preparing for an early trip to the airport for the parents. Dave and Kim finished reading The Gate House (Nelson DeMille book we're into for this trip), and we reflected on a trip that passed all too quickly.

4/29 At Walt's designated time, 11:00 am, we were packed and on the road to Clermont, to pick up the boat – we left it at Hound Haven. We spent some time visiting with Linda and Emily / Whisper. This yellow lab has a great story and will have a wonderful life in NY with 4 other dogs and her new family. Safe to say, she'll be rooting for the Yankees and wearing Yankee blue and white for special occasions, so great for her. She is healing up from her surgery and looks great!

1245 left HH for NC! Good drive, started a new book, James W. Hall this time – haven't followed our hero, Thorn in a while…good stuff so far. Arrived in Orangeburg, SC at 1930, after a room change due to technical difficulties (poor TV function), we settled in. We are probably within 4 hours of Lake Norman, so we should be there early and hope to go for a sail.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Scots in Tampa

Fleet 168, Tampa, April 24,

10 Scot teams and a building sea breeze, perfection! When we left the dock at 1300 the wind was fairly light and the Southerly chop made it challenging to make the boat go well. By the start of racing the breeze was building nicely to eventually full hike and vang on! The first race was tossed out due to a wayward mark, but once that was fixed Deano and Jan ran some nice races, practicing some general recalls along the way, big thanks!

Robbie Brown and Billy Icely won the day followed by Paul Silvernail and Penny Ruark. There was a bit of Darwin going on out on the water as Dave Clement and Ed Ruark mega hiked their forestay into pieces, bang! Mast in water. Andy and Lisa had their mainsail coming apart at a batten seam. Tom and Drew Taylor struggled with a mainsheet shackle but made a nifty on the water repair.

Results: R1 R2 R3 Tot

Robbie Brown and Billy Icely #2052 - 1 3 1 5
Paul Silvernail and Penny Ruark # 5026 - 2 4 2 8
Dave and Kim Thinel # 4901 - 3 1 6 10
Dave Bell and Susan Cintron # 4156 - 5 5 5 15
Al Thompson and Cameron Salmon # 504 - 7 7 3 17
Mark and Stewart Taylor # 5477 - 8 6 4 18
Matt Dalton and Dawn Naramore # 2262 - 6 8 7 21
Andy and Lisa Hayward # 38 - 4 2 dnc 10 26
Tom and Drew Taylor # 4321 - 9 9 8 26
Dave Clement and Ed Ruark # 2339 - dnf dns dns 30

7 of the boats where represented at the post race shin dig at Mark Taylor's new "Love Shack" huge thanks
for the great eats and hospitality, thank you Taylor's! Cam Sam also provided some snacky gourmet cheese stuff but we forgot it in the car and will break it out next event, thanks Cameron! The eagle and the gingerbread man has new homes, watch out!

Business:

1. TSS Commodore's Cup, Saturday May 8th, Apollo Beach. we have 4 teams with verbal commitments for this event. TSS has graciously offered to give Scots their own RC and course, we need to do better than 4 boats to make this work for them. RSVP to me now please!

2. Fleet Dues are due... nuff said, please don't make me get medieval on you!

3. Our current E-mail updates: This is going to be the last bulk E-mail for fleet updates. All future information is going to be exchanged via Facebook. If you want to continue to monitor Fleet 168 activities go to www.
Facebook.com/flying scot fleet 168. No, I don't get a commission, it cost nothing to join. This is a really slick way for us to keep informed about our goings on!

4. I have transom stickers for all paid FSSA members if you plan to attend a sanctioned event get with me.

I had this all typed up last night but my laptop died :(

Andy

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Club racing on Lake Eustis

We were able to race on Saturday but not Sunday this past weekend. Saturday was patchy and light but at least there was some breeze. Lake Eustis gave us nothing on Sunday.

In Saturday’s racing, Ron Baerwitz and Dean Grimes on 3360 and Ray Laguna on 5770 traded first places in two close finishes. Ron and Dean took the bullet in the first race, followed by Ray in second and then Andy Fox and Robert Newland on 4350 in third. In the second race it was Ray’s turn to cross first on 5770, with Ron and Dean on 3360 close behind in second place and then me with Todd Hunter on 5810 a bit further back in third.

The complete results are below. I’ll add a couple of things: First, Ray made great use of his new Schurr sails, looking really fast in both races. And second, it’s great to have Andy Fox sailing with us and to see Robert Newland back in a Scot after watching him on an MC for a couple of years. Here’s hoping Andy joins us frequently and that Robert comes back full time to the Scots (no offense to our MC friends)!

The next club racing will be in two weeks (on May 1 and 2), when we continue our Collene Series.

We have just three more racing weekends in the season (May 1 and 2, May 15 and 16, and the Memorial Day series), so be sure to get in some racing while you can!

See you all in two weeks.

George

Club racing on Lake Eustis

We were able to race on Saturday but not Sunday this past weekend. Saturday was patchy and light but at least there was some breeze. Lake Eustis gave us nothing on Sunday.

In Saturday’s racing, Ron Baerwitz and Dean Grimes on 3360 and Ray Laguna on 5770 traded first places in two close finishes. Ron and Dean took the bullet in the first race, followed by Ray in second and then Andy Fox and Robert Newland on 4350 in third. In the second race it was Ray’s turn to cross first on 5770, with Ron and Dean on 3360 close behind in second place and then me with Todd Hunter on 5810 a bit further back in third.

The complete results are below. I’ll add a couple of things: First, Ray made great use of his new Schurr sails, looking really fast in both races. And second, it’s great to have Andy Fox sailing with us and to see Robert Newland back in a Scot after watching him on an MC for a couple of years. Here’s hoping Andy joins us frequently and that Robert comes back full time to the Scots (no offense to our MC friends)!

The next club racing will be in two weeks (on May 1 and 2), when we continue our Collene Series.

We have just three more racing weekends in the season (May 1 and 2, May 15 and 16, and the Memorial Day series), so be sure to get in some racing while you can!

See you all in two weeks.

George