Photos from 2010 Gator Bowl

Lori was volunteering on the mark boat and was kind enough to snap some nice photos on Saturday. I have posted a few of them, they are high resolution so clicking them will show some nice detail. Enjoy!


The Lintons (4925) leading the way to the top mark


Dave Thinel 4901, Hunter Riddle 19, John Kreidler 2677, Donna Mohr 5502


Al Terhune 5761, Chris Morgan 842, John Wake 5341


Hunter Riddle 19, Mark Taylor 4321


Tommy Smith 4909, Thomas Darcy 5828


A good portion of the fleet


Todd Stickley 4171, Charlie Fowler 2496, John Kreidler


The run


Vincent Gubbini 5309, Thomas Mcnally 5179


Rob Smith singlehanding 4145

Check back with the Rudder Club website for some more photos soon.

Gator Bowl, Day 2

We were thinking that early morning rain would totally suck so when we woke up at the hotel and saw a lot of light peaking through the curtains we were hopeful. We pulled back the curtains and.... Blue Sky! Sweet! Some cool weather is much easier to take if the sun is out and it is not windy either.

We arrived at the club around 8 to get ready for the 10 am start and as we were all leaving the dock the clouds came and breeze filled in.


Still having some issues with the red gust line, I guess

Just before the start we saw Rob Smith capsize while singlehanding again. Being fairly close to the bridge this had the ugly potential going big time. Rob reacted quickly and was over the high side and standing on the board. In what seemed like record time he had the boat coming upright and he climbed in and seemed to be dry. We were impressed! We also hoped he would head back to the club since the breeze was building and it was too much to singlehand. Thankfully, he did.

We left off yesterday with Jeff Linton leading Al Terhune by 2 points but that lead was cut in half when Al won the first race with Jeff second. The last race would decide the winner and Al jumped out to an aerly lead. At the top mark Al was first and Jeff was back in fifth or sixth but Jeff made up ground on the run then rounded the left gate and banged the right side hard. We were shocked to see him cruising back in on starboard and he crossed the leaders by a healthy margin. The run was uneventful, Jeff got the bullet and Al was second. It was an incredible turn around to see. Congrads to the winners and thanks from Wally Gator who has grown fond of Davis Island.

It was also nice to see several new scot owners along with a good group from outside the District. I'll get some results up soon.

Gator Bowl In Jacksonville, Day 1

A pretty healthy group of Scot sailors turned out for the 2010 Gator Bowl. I think the final tally was 26 boats which is well above the average of 18 over the last 5 years or so.
The weather on Saturday was actually really nice, a little better than was forecasted on Friday. It was cool early but by 10:00 am it was nice enough to be shedding clothing. The breeze looked a little shaky but it filled in before lunch and was at times more than the lightweights would have preferred.


Not sure what happened to the red gust line but you get the idea

Three W/L (twice around) races were completed by 3-ish and we were heading in. As usual there was an abundance of trickiness (a word?) to be had, as the wind did the lake thing. The current was flowing north at a good pace, as well, so some good stategy would come in handy to deal with that.
We don't have a Wild Man award, but if we did John Kreidler would get it. While we were heading out to dinner in Jax, John Wake traded a text or 2 with JK. JK was sitting in a bar with Dennis the Lightning guy, in South Carolina with a proper frame of mind when they said "want to go?" With the all-important wife's permission they decide it was a go. Sadly, the boat was sitting at the club which added 2 hours to the drive. After catching a little sleep they departed at 2 am to get the boat then head south to FL.
About 10 am they rolled into the club, looking none the worse for wear. Talk about wanting to go racing.
Two locals receive runner up awards for sailing solo today- Kudos to Rob Smith and Warren Keene!! Singlehanding in 5 knots is one thing but when it is shifty and gusting over 15 its another deal.
Oh yeah we should mention the Lintons have a one point edge on Al Terhune who is just ahead of Robbie Brown.
Tomorrow; rain early, high 59, NW wind 15 to 20...
Out.

Thanksgiving Regatta - Davis Island YC

This regatta is a tradition at DIYC and is one of the bigger events they host. We were off doing the family thing so no sailing for us. There was a nice little Scot fleet of 12 boats on hand which is about the norm for this event.

The Lintons picked up where they left off in Sarasota, running a streak of bullets! Robby Brown was a solid second and Paul Silvernail was third.

I hear the conditions were fairly nice most of the time, starting out cool but warming up nicely and reasonable breeze. Here are the results;

DIYC
2010 Thankgiving
November 27-28
All Boats
Flying Scot Class Series Summary Pl Sail Sailor From T 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 4925 Jeff Linton DIYC 7 1 1 1 1 (3) 1 1 1
2 5546 Robby Brown DIYC 18 3 (8) 3 3 2 2 2 3
3 5026 Paul Silvernail DIYC 24 5 2 2 5 1 7 (8) 2
4 4321 Mark Taylor DIYC 32 6 3 4 4 4 5 6 (7)
5 38 David Clement DIYC 34 7 4 (8) 6 6 4 3 4
6 5770 Ray Laguna LESC 38 2 5 7 (11) 5 10 4 5
7 5477 Dean Bell DIYC 52 4 7 6 9 9 9 (10) 8
8 504 Al Thompson DIYC 53 8 10 (11) 7 10 3 5 10
9 2339 Stephen Horwitz Coral Reef YC 53 (11) 11 5 8 8 6 9 6
10 4156 David Bell DIYC 58 9 6 10 2 7 11 (13\DNF) 13\DNS
11 5179 Tom McNally LESC 62 10 9 9 10 (11) 8 7 9
12 5828 Thomas d'Arcy DIYC 88 12 12 12 (13\DNS) 13\DNS 13\DNC 13\DNC 13\DNC

Nice to see Tom and Ray over from the Lake Eustis fleet. Would have been cool to see some of the Sarasota fleet but they had their own racing going on at the Squadron. All Good!

We will soon be getting ready to leave for Jacksonville and the Gator Bowl this coming weekend, Dec. 4 and 5. Hope to see many of you in Jax.

FLorida District in Sarasota

The second stop on the district tour was in Sunny Sarasota. Twenty seven skippers attended and enjoyed nearly perfect conditions. I failed to get any photos but here is a wind graph for saturday showing a nice afternoon sea breeze;


We started at 12:30 and sailed three races saturday with the result being a tightly packed bunch, aside from the Lintons who were cruising with three bullets!

Here is Sundays graph;


We started at 10:30 in a light easterly but as the lead boats approached the weather mark the wind vanished. As is normal with an abandonement nearly everyone was leading the race!

The transition to sea breeze was slow (as the graph shows) but around 1-ish we got going again and had nice conditions for the Lintons to grab two more bullets. Marshall Pardey was going strong as well and finished with a solid second. We were ocs in the last race and finished tenth (I think), Chris Morgan had one too so that was costly.

Awesome job by the volunteers led by Charlie Clifton, PRO and Chuck Tanner, Regatta Chair. I'll add a link to results when they are up.

Next up is Jacksonville, December 4 and 5, here is a link to the Rudder Club website; http://www.rudderclub.com/ . Lets Go!

A quick trip to Sarasota (our favorite FL venue)

It has been too long since we sailed in Sarasota, which happens to be our favorite Florida venue. With the summer behind us the fall fleet racing schedule has the start at 1 pm. Low tide was also around 1 pm and the lows have been real low this week so everyone took the eastern route around the sandbar. We found ourselves a little late leaving the dock after visiting with Linda, Katherine and Jeff Penfield who just arrived back in town. The breeze was a light easterly, getting a little impatient I cut the corner but having sailed here so often it was "no problem".


Heading north with some skinny water ahead, the light areas are sand and the dark spots are sea grass. The board was mostly all the way up as it usually is for crossing the bar. Why take chances?


Hmmm... Getting a little more shallow than I expected, board all the way up. Sort of committed at this point, sailing higher towards deeper water will need some board and that isn't happening.


The rudder is now mostly up and Kim is questioning the picture taking thing. What else to do? You have to be there but it is an odd feeling crossing the grass at 3 to 4 knots.

I will say I had the mental image of me in ankle deep water with the bowline over my shoulder pulling the boat along as Kim is snapping photos! Not good. Happily for me we didn't bump.

The ten boats had a great day, mid 80's full sun and for the first race a light easterly. The sea breeze filled in shortly after the first race ended and we had about 8 knots the rest of the afternoon.

We will be back in Sarasota in two weeks for the Florida District regatta. Looking forward to that one and hope to see you there.

Day 2 of Racing? Perhaps

A beautiful sunrise Sunday morning


Another early am shot of the cove just before the RC assembled and departed

Sunday, October 10, 2010
Wife Husband Regatta, Day 2 of Racing?


Oh, we had to wake up early!! The Race Committee moved the starting time up to 9:00 am! Our boat was overnighting in the water, so all we had to do was ready ourselves, put the sails on and go.
Unfortunately, the "go" part was none too fast...The best wind of the day may have been when we left the dock.

We spent a couple of hours floating around chatting with folks. There was enough wind to sail by the stern of the committee boat to check in, but not much else. Joe and Stacey Brake came by with Tom Lawton on their super-cool flats boat, probably the most appropriate watercraft on the lake today.


Stacy and Joe Brake loading up on the FS paraphanalia for their new son

They had traveled for just today, as Stacey's brother was married yesterday. Baby Beau is due in early January and Stacey looks and feels great. We agree with Stacey when she says, "I don't know many Beaus, but the ones I know I like!" Speaking of names, we spent a little time discussing the name of 4901. Greased Pig might be a contender, if we could just get it to go faster! Some bacon derivatives were also suggested, everything goes better with bacon.

10:30 The RC Boat sounded the horn and raised the flag to send us in.

Another great idea formulated on the water - a Bar Boat! In times like these, a Bloody Mary or a refreshing Gin and Tonic sounds quite nice. The guys on the pin boat thought so, too.

1:45 pm Awards done, boats packed, on the road. Another beautiful, sunshiney day. Interestingly, we have not seen any clouds the entire time we've been here. The trees are just starting to turn color. Again, the folks at LNYC are excellent hosts, and the winning couple, locals Larry and Carla Vitez gave a very nice speech.


The winners; Carla and Larry Vitez!!

The central theme being how sailing the Scot together builds a marriage. She recalled some very special couples who have been influential in their fleet and the class. Very nice.

John Wake seems to make an impression whenever he sails here.


Our friends Sharon and John Wake from Fishing Bay YC

The whole capsizing thing, which was Hans's fault, we know, we don't have to mention again, (others seem to often enough). This time, he had a little incident with the boat on the ramp (shhhh! Don't tell Travis). At least we know there's nothing wrong with the rollers and you don't have to push very hard to launch the thing. Lucky Dog was certainly lucky AND still fast. A little gelcoat work on the transom and centerboard, and she'll be as good as new. It didn't seem to affect their ability to glide through the water, John and Sharon were at the top mark on the first beat in fine form and finished 4th overall and first in the highly contested First Timer's Trophy.


Paul and Leslie Silvernail not only got second, but also an addition to their masthead safety gear for the ride home. (Bikini bottoms found by Andy and Lisa! Hee hee! We are so mischievous when not sailing!

Last night also belonged to air hockey and ping pong - speaking of activities while not sailing! If we hadn't been able to sail at least one race, it may have come down to tournament play at the clubhouse.



Paul and Jeff going at it

Even though we didn't do a lot of racing, we are not disappointed in the trip. Never expected such a lack of wind in October, but we'll certainly come back for another regatta!


Somehow Kim "misplaced" her skivvies which ended up making an interesting mast ornament for the Silvernails


Susan and David Bell just snagged a new RV which is ready to roll back to Tampa

To see results go here for the LNYC website

Tampa has a buzz....

October 9, 2010
Saturday, first day of racing, one race....

Excellent morning for land sports. Virgina/Carolina friends gathered for a bike ride, no wind, pleasant temps. Skipper's meeting (which Amy missed!) at 10:30 am, a very civilzed time. Some very adventurous souls attempted a go at some early practice, there actually was a slight breeze early...
Andy bought a new fishing pole instead.
Dave and I were able to outfit the boat with our NEW SHEETS! Dave surprised me with new jib and spin sheets which I am very happy with, they make my job(s) much easier. He gifted himself with a new main sheet. We donned the newest sails we have, and after a postponement and some chit chat about whether it was a sucker breeze or not, off we went!

Couldn't believe the start. Hard to manage the upwind, we were with the top group, though, but that could have changed at any moment. Difficult to watch the windward mark rounding. Current was a factor - who would have guessed? Downwind...ugly. Back upwind for a shortened course finish - ouch. That's all we have to say about the subject.

Fortunately, liberally poured drinks, ample keggage and filling dinner and dessert help to erase the thoughts of the day. Did we mention a wine tasting? Oh, boy, could be trouble, avoided that. Beer and Bloody Marys are much more our speed.
Back to the liberally poured drinks-Team Tampa has a buzz....

Wife/Husband Championship 2010, Friday

October 8, 2010
Friday, practice day

The Fairfield Inn does a lovely breakfast, and prepared us well for the day.

9:40 am The Haywards send the children off with Aunt Lori and Gramma Julie and follow us to Lake Norman. We are excited to see the lake and set the boats up and go sailing!

or not.

1:15 pm Ate lunch at the gazebo near where we have staked out our real estate for the weekend. No wind yet, but the boats are set up and in the water. Ready to go. Did I mention there wasn't any wind? Off to the store to replenish the supplies...

Random thought...one of the dangers of walking lakeside has been encounters with the numerous geese on the property. Never fear--The Goose Patrol is on the job! For real, Lisa and I saw the vehicle on the lake road, and I noted there was much less goose poop to avoid. A very nice improvement to an already lovely place.

After our mission was complete, we received our registration packet and assorted goodies, and decided to make a go of it. A couple of boats had made it across the lake, but didn't look like they would make it back. We stayed close to the club, tried to work on our technique, but the wind was just not with us. Ah, well, we had a nice day, had time to take the boats out, discuss rig tension (and other things) amongst ourselves before dinner.

The boys had been smoking brisket all day, and whetting our appetites for some excellent grub. One of the reasons we love this place..they are fabulous hosts. Appys, drinks, dinner, dessert, it doesn't get much better. Hopefully, we'll add "good racing" to the list tomorrow!

Wife/Husband Championship 2010

Wife - Husband Regatta Lake Norman, NC
Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010

About 8:30 am Facebook posting from Andy and Lisa Hayward…they’re on the road to NC! It’s a beautiful morning, starting to get cooler around here, even chilly on this morning’s walk! Wore long sleeves!
Missy and Lexi are on a sleepover at Hadley’s. Dede, Beau, and Ally each have a pup. We miss them already.

Beginning of our trip 9:10 am - leaving the house! On the radio, Ron and Ian are talking about “Johnny Negative” fan behind Ron at the Rays game yesterday. Sadly, Rays lost the first game, David Price had been doing so well! Gotta find the bats. Thank goodness for the other game - a nohitter distraction for the media.
We were hoping to caravan with A&L (Jeff and Amy left last night) but as it stands, they are a solid 2 hrs ahead--See you there!

11:20 Saw a sign on a side of the road BBQ joint that serves chicken, beef, goat, and pork. GOAT! Yikes!! I love me some BBQ, but, yeesh! Wonder how popular it is.

Via Facebook, we saw that Drew is working up a pee. Pass the bucket! I am working on some hunger, good thing we packed some snacks.
We started Nelson Demille’s Upcountry a few weeks ago and haven’t been on enough trips to finish it--back to Vietnam with Mr. Brenner.

Almost 1:00 pm, 1st gas stop just before junction with I-10 toward Jacksonville, but decided to stay on Rte 301, N to I-95. New experiences abound.
Sometimes, new experiences aren’t what they’re cracked up to be…we won’t be doing that again.

1:30 pm yay - on I-95 N
1:40 pm woo hoo - Georgia!
2:40 pm Lisa called to warn us of an incident on Hwy 26, they were instructed to take a detour and reviewed it with us.
We are reminded of the lack of rest stops in GA.
A second call from Lisa informs us that they are on the detour and they are passing where Jeff and Amy are stuck on Hwy 26. They apparently sailed into a hole and Andy and Lisa caught the first great shift (of many, they hope) of the weekend. We are investigating alternate routes. Amy and Jeff’s cell phone is out of battery, but we are able to ascertain that they have been stuck for at least 3 hours.

4:30 pm We hear an alert on the radio that the entrance ramp to Hwy 26 is closed from I-95. Unfortunately, we just passed the recommended detour exit. Turns out, the ramp wasn’t closed, but we decided not to risk it, and traveled further north on 95 and took “a scenic route” through small towns Sumter (which I thought was a county in FL) and Camden on a route called 521.

6:00 pm Andy calls, they’re drinking beer! BEER! Pretty unfair, but good for them. Lisa’s sister lives here, and they will be guarding the children for the weekend.
Dave ponders the things we do for sailing, the traveling, etc., as we pass through another interesting small town, Ridgeway.

6:23 pm Eventually, we make our way to our elusive route north, Hwy 77. We are 70 mi south of Charlotte and we successfully avoided the mishap on Hwy 26. There apparently was a HazMat incident, and the road had been closed since 9:30 am. Wonder if the Linton’s are making any progress?

7:10 pm 10 hours later - NC !! Hope Jeff and Amy are close!
7:40 pm arrive at Fairfield Inn Exit 36!!! 650 miles, we find out later that Amy and Jeff finally set up camp around 8:30 pm.

Communication tips for Wife/Husband Regatta

As a public service I decided to offer this communication lesson before we join our spouses for two days of blissful companionship on Lake Norman. Proper communication is essential if we are to reach our full potential, good luck teams! See you there!

Click to enlarge;

Miami/FL District Regatta

A light turnout of Scots was met with mostly light wind but enough to get the five scheduled races in over two days. Ron Pletsch with Barry crewing took 4 out of five bullets for a solid win. Congrats to Ron and Barry!

Flying Scot FL District #1/ Miami Results

Pos Sail Boat Skipper 1 2 3 4 5= Total Points
1 15 Flying Sidewalk Pesch, Ron 1 1 1 4 1= 8
2 5672 Volee Kurtz, David 2 2 3 1 7/OCS= 15
3 5399 Margaritaville Whipple, Larry 5 5 4 3 2= 19
4 5220 Air America Price, Bud 6 3 2 2 7/OCS= 20
5 5104 Holland, Martin 3 4 5 6 3= 21
6 4595 Being There Stroleny, Vladimir 4 6 6 5 4= 25

The points for the District Standings will be; 1st- 90, 2- 85, 3- 80, 4- 74, 5- 67, 6- 60.

Next up on the schedule is Sarasota, November 13 and 14, let's hope for good weather and a big turnout!

Heating up Lake Eustis

The Scot gang over at Lake Eustis had a pretty busy September with multiple race days. Unlike the other fleets in FL their fleet racing is both Saturday and Sunday, instead of just one day. Good to see them back at it after the summer recess, though September in inland FL is still HOT. Think Orlando.

From George;

Here are the results for the first two weekends of club racing at Lake Eustis (September 11 and 12 and September 25 and 26). Welcome back to everyone, and special greetings to Ed Beuapre and Terry Thompson on 5239, who recently joined our fleet, and to Ron and Peggy Stevenot on 3221, who sailed with us once last season but who (we hope) will join us frequently this year.

The next racing weekend is two weekends away, October 9 and 10. Hope to see everyone then!

Saturday September 11, 2010

Racing Abandoned

Sunday September 12, 2010 Race 1

Place
Skipper
Sail


1- Murphy 5703, 2- Erichsen 5339, 3- Grimes/Lobato 3360, 4- Beaupre 5239

Sunday September 12, 2010 Race 2

1- Erichsen 5339, 2- Grimes/Lobato 3360, 3- Murphy 5703, 4- Beaupre 5239

Saturday September 25, 2010 Race 1

1- Laguna 5770, 2- Asaibene 5690, 3- Grimes/Lobato 3360, 4- Stevenot 3221,
5, Murphy 5703, 6- Bazner 3387, OCS Beaupre 5239

Saturday September 25, 2010 Race 2

1- Laguna 5770, 2- Bazner 3387, 3- Grimes/Lobato 3360, 4- Stevenot 3221, 5- Asaibene 5690, 6- Beaupre 5239, 7- Murphy 5703

Sunday September 26, 2010 Race 1

1- Golder 5810, 2- Laguna 5770, 3- Grimes/Lobato 3360, 4- Erichsen 5339, 5- Stevenot 3221, 6- Asaibene 5690, DNF Murphy 5703

Sunday September 26, 2010 Race 2

1- Erichsen 5339, 2- Laguna 5770, 3- Golder 5810, 4- Grimes/Lobato 3360, 5- Murphy 5703, 6- Stevenot 3221, 7- Asaibene 5690



PS Florida Districts in Miami this weekend.

Tampa Fleet Racing / Labor Day

Here is Andy's account of the day;

We had a bit of everything this Saturday, starting with a early calm, rain during rigging, and finally a nice 10-12k seabreeze under bright sunny skies.
7 boats made it out and enjoyed 4 nice races thanks to Matt and Dawn on Conga Rats. Thanks to the RC for watching the young Haywards!
It was nice to have Jason Chavez join us sailing with Keith Lockey, these guys were tough on the starting line!
Racing was extremely close, and the shortish races made boat handling critical.
Paul Silvernail and Leslie Fisher, Mark Taylor and Tina Tinaret, Andy and Lisa Hayward, Dave and Kim Thinel, Al Thompson and Eric, Dean Bell and Cameron Salmon, Keith Lockey and Jason Chavez finished in that order.
Cam owes Dean a new forestay as his ab blasting mega hiking blew it up in the last race, (they where leading)!
All the happening cool people frolicked in the pool and grilled out after the races, thanks to all for the yummy snacks!
Our next event is going to be a Pre Wife Husband practice day, date TBD, but late September. If you plan on going up to Lake Norman, you need to sail one more time prior to hitting the road!

Hotel for Wife/Husband Oct. 2010

Wanted to let anyone interested know about this hotel deal. I just booked at the Fairfield Inn in Mooresville, NC for $55 per night on Priceline.com. I used the "name your price" option which is when you bid on a room at your price. I selected the Mooresville area (closest to club) then selected 2.5 stars and bid $40. I did not get the $40 deal but got a message that if I bid $55 something would happen, I don't remember exactly what the message was. I guess the something was an acceptance.

We have stayed at this hotel before and it was nice.

Here is a link if you want to bid Priceline This link takes you straight to the bid form, just complete the city, dates, etc. Note; If your bid is accepted it is non-refundable.

Happy days.

PS Fleet racing in Tampa this Saturday at 3 pm then BBQ.

Florida District Championship Schedule 2010-11

Summer is a slow time for sailing in Florida but the sailing season that begins this fall is not too far away. The district website has been updated for the upcoming season but I wanted to post it here as well.

Here goes;

October 2-3, Miami - Here is the NOR
November 13-14, Sarasota
December 4-5, Jacksonville
January 22-23, 2011 Port Charlotte
February 19-20, Lake Eustis
March 5-6, Tampa (also Midwinter warm-up)

Each skippers three best regattas will be used to calculate the season scores so it will be easier than ever to compete. Hope to see you all out on the water soon!

Tampa Fleet Race - August 2010

Shortly after the first start

Our light summer schedule continued Saturday August 14, which was also a DIYC work day. It was our turn to do RC, Kim and I brought out friend Wayne who is thinking about getting a trailerable sailboat. Hmmm, let’s see, what kind of boat comes to mind? Anyway, Leslie and Paul had their powerboat in the water already from the club workday so they offered to be mark boat. Cool, this was going to be like the real thing.

Fleet Captain Andy wisely bumped our starting time back to 3 pm during the summer months to give the sea-breeze some time to find the club. That worked perfectly, early on what breeze there was came mostly from the south but around 2pm it went west and began to fill. By race time it was pretty settled in from 300 degrees and maybe about 6 knots. Perfect.

We had a light turn out of racers since a few “regulars” couldn’t make it and two more were on powerboats. Summer racing in Tampa can be a little iffy, and always HOT so this is understandable. Todays victims; 38-Andy and Drew, 2262-Matt and Dawn, 504- Al and Andy, 3901-Keith and Andreas, 4925-Dave and Ed.


Andy and Al fighting it out

Race 1 - We thought the boat end was a little too favored even after letting out all of our fairly short anchor line. Not wanting to delay we started anyway and to our surprise the whole fleet was late and in the middle of the line. Cool. The left side looked better than the right and it played out that way, Dave and Ed, 4925 scored the first bullet.
>
A familiar site, Dave in the lead

Race 2 – The start was much better, 504, 38 and 2262 were a little OCS but everyone was even including 4925 at the leeward end so we let them go. Dave and Ed sailed another good race and another bullet.

Al about to cross the finish line

Race 3 – We are amazed the breeze is still at 300 and is up to 10 or 11, nice! 38 was OCS and promptly re-started, half way through the race they were within striking distance of Al, who led and Dave who was hot on Al’s heels. When Al’s chute refused to come down at the leeward mark Dave had the lead and another bullet.>

Get that ________chute down!



Now look what you did

Race 4 – Wind still 300! I guess boredom on the mark boat was getting too much for Paul who hopped aboard 3901 for this last race. This was really a cool thing though since Keith and Andreas are new to Scotting and Paul has mucho racing experience. Andy and Drew headed in to the club so race 4 had 4 boats. A clean start and Al grabbed the lead early like he did in race 3. Dave’s string of bullets was on the line, with no spinnaker snafus Al was able to hold him off and win the race.

Here are the results;
Boat # Race 1 Race2 Race3 Race4 Total
4925, 1 1 1 2= 5
504, 3 3 2 1= 9
38, 2 2 3 6= 13
2262, 4 4 4 3= 15
3901, 5 5 5 4= 19


Matt and Dawn charging up wind


Though the forecast was for a high of 95 it never seemed that hot to us, maybe the shade of the bimini had something to do with it. So for a change we have an RC boat and a mark boat to deal with all the shifts you always get at DI and…. You guessed it we never changed the course once. Go figure. Next fleet race is September 11, don’t miss it.

I said Starboard God --------!

Florida District Championship Schedule & other bits

Seems like a while since I have logged in here but it is summer and sailing has taken a backseat to air conditioning. This fall things will get going again which brings me to the upcoming schedule. The 2010-11 Fl District Championship begins October 2 and 3, 2010 at the Coconut Grove YC in Miami. To check out the entire schedule go to the District website here. Everyone is welcome so join us!

The FSSA Midwinter Championship will be in Sarasota next March. John and Susan Domagala have put together a nice little event website, check it out. Make plans early to attend you won't be disapointed, the venue is awesome.

The Davis Island YC will host a warm-up for the midwinters, the warm-up will be March 5 and 6 2011 and will also be the last race in the FL District Championship.

The newest fleet in the Fl District is on a roll, the most recent addition is FS38 formerly belonging to Andy Hayward of Tampa. The Port Charlotte fleet is up to 7 (I think) boats and looking for more. Here is a link to a new website for the fleet and also one for the club. Thanks to Martin Holland for creating the site.

My old boat FS812 has moved south to Miami but you should be seeing it soon as Larry Ames plans to race.

P.S. Fleet racing this Saturday at DIYC 3:00 pm with Kim and I as RC! Oh No!!

July Fleet Racing in Tampa

Saturday saw 11 Scots and a Windmill out for our July Practice. Paul Silvernail
boldly predicted perfect sailing conditions for this event, how does he always get it right? amazing!
We had 8-12 from the West, bright sky, smoking hot, just like Paul said.
What Paul didn't know was that we were sailing Windward leewards with a leeward GATE, ok, he's not perfect! Big thanks to Amy and Jeff Linton for setting up and running the races as well as daycare for the Haywards!
Courses were short, and that kept the fleet packed and verbal. This cozy configuration put a premium on the turns and the ups and downs, whew!
Race winners swaped onto the RC boat, which was neat.
Results are with Amy....
It was good to see Henery Pico over from Merrit Island, we hope he becomes a regular attendee!
Some of the teams bolted off to StPete to catch the Rays game (which they won! Yea!!) Credit to the Ruarks for bringing the Evan good luck charm!!
August 14 is the next date up on the schedule, Please confirm this date and let me know if you will be able to attend as we seem to have a fair number of conflicts on this date, we couls make an adjustment...
Matt and Dawn are August RC thanks!!

Andy

PS Ask Al about the pin setting technique.

NAC Saturday and Photos

BWYC
The Rental House

Up early to our morning symphony outside, Ryan and Carrie get an early start. Safe driving, folks! Taking the long tack first. We got the house cleaned up, puppies and stuff loaded in the van, and we head to BWYC to finish with the boat. Another beautiful thing about a Scot, the easy put away and pack up!
We hit the road just shy of 10:00. Interesting to see the clean up on the beach so close to our sailing area. Up to the highway, and around 10:30 we notice a headwind makes our mileage go to crap. 11:00 we cross the state line into Alabama. Like Susan and John, we encounter traffic outside the Mobile tunnel. Still no sign of Perna or God. That is one of the funniest stories, though.
We finished a book last week, just as we pulled into the parking lot at the beginning of our sailing adventure. It’s time to start another! More Janet E, I think we need some fun, lighthearted adventure.
12:05 pm, Florida! Still Central time.
8:05 pm Eastern time. Driving through Pasco County, marveling at all the BBQ places we have passed along the way. Mucho opportunity to purchase fireworks, as well. As a fitting end to the trip, those of you who joined us at BWYC will agree, we’ve been driving through rain for the past hour. A little batch of blue up ahead, though, hope it’s right over our house. Hope it stops by the time we get home, Missy and Lexi deserve a good walk, without rain. They’ve been asleep pretty much the whole trip, good girls. Janet’s 15th book about bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is ready for the shelf. Another piece of literary cotton candy, but it made the trip go by more quickly…Are we there yet?

Congrats to Hans and Rikki on their new bundle of joy! Hope everyone is healthy and able to go home soon. Jeppe looks beautiful!

NAC Friday

July 2, 2010

IN WHICH the regatta is a regatta after all.

In order for the Flying Scot North American Championships to be complete, three races had to be scored. As earlier reported, the weather has been unsettled to the point of malice – lots of thunderstorm squalls and then absolute millpond calms, and very little of the gorgeous, hot, sea-breezy conditions that we were expecting. (I was told there would be cake as well, but that’s another story altogether.)

Between the weather and bad luck, we started this morning (at 9:30!) with but one race on the scoreboard. Things were a bit tense. Still, the RC prevailed and sent the fleet out to race in some lightish conditions. We got in a race before the breeze shut down, which gave us a fourth. Richard Wake and Jennifer Judkins from Texas took the race categorically, though Robert Cummings and Nina Boswell (Hey Texas!) had great speed.

Then came the wait and inevitable countdown. No races to start after 3 pm, so as we most of us drifted around the race committee in the melt-your-macademia-nuts-off haze, we started counting. Two hours and twenty minutes until the cutoff. Two hours and fourteen minutes until the cutoff. One hour and fifty-five minutes.

At around one hour and forty minutes to go, there was rumor of wind, and Clinton put up a come within hail flag. This drew back those boats that had slid closer to the harbor (some even at the dock! Gasp! Some probably drinking at the bar! Not us, since we packed a big cooler) but alas, the rumor proved flat for another hour or so.

Finally this afternoon, with a half-hour or so to go, we got the kind of conditions we had been hoping for: hot like an oven, yes, but with a lovely sea-breeze filling in to around 7 knots. Al Terhune took an early lead, and though there was a big black cloud threatening on the other side of the bay, both fleets finished and got to shore without incident.

The Flying Scot class has a LOT of silver to award, and some of the notables from Florida: Kimmie and Dave won race 2 in the Challenger division trotting away from the rest of the fleet. Ray Laguna was in the money, finishing 10th in the Challengers. Both got cool bags. I’ve listed some of the results below. Maybe Dave and his magical slow computer will put up the rest…Must pack up and get ready to hit the road in the a.m. Maybe late in the a.m. Maybe after some lunch...


Partial Results
1 Al Terhune/Katie Terhune 5,5,1 11 points
2. Chris Wientjes/Dave Bolyard 2,2,8 12 pts
3. Jeff/Amy 7,4,2 13 pts
4. Andrew Eagen/Shelby Friedrichs 4,9,5 18 pts
5. Zak Fanberg/Gary Taylor, 10,3,6 19 pts
6. John Dane/Schaffer Dane 1.6.13 20 pts
7. Richard Wade/Jennifer Judkins 9,1,10 20 pts
8. Max Albert/Steve Hunt/Avery Sollberger 3,14,11 28 pts
9 Dave Boylard Jr/Bradley Jarvis 6,12,12 30 pts
10. Larry Taggart/Carrie Berger 12,7,14 33 pts.

Challenger Fleet
1. Ben Williams/Deb Aronson 1,2,3, 6 points

Some more from Kim;
Bright and early, the roosters and howling dogs outside greet the day. Nature, it turns out, is very noisy at times. The chorus of frogs at night is quite different from the chirping of crickets at home. New dogs greet us on our street for more morning excitement.
As expected, rain starts as we get ready to leave the house.
The last day of “The NACs that almost weren’t” begins with a race that actually counts! And, bonus, we won! The RC tried to start the next race in a ridiculous amount of non-breeze, and wisely abandoned as some boats in the Championship fleet have not crossed the starting line after ~5min. Wow. We settled in for a long stretch of waiting, bobbing, drifting. RC has till 3:00 pm to start a race to complete this regatta.
Between 2 and 2:15, our boat is pointed toward the yacht club and a horn is sounded calling sailors to get ready to race. It seems futile to us, Sailflow has nothing good on the radar (what would we do without a Blackberry), the smokestacks remain in a straight-up position, and Clinton starts a sequence in questionable conditions, patchy ripples on the bay, and potential for a very poor race. Dave and I make our final decision to continue on to the club, as beating the rush to the hoist, washing the boat, hanging by the pool, and margaritas seem like the preferred activity.
At ~2:45, though, the prayers of many on the water are answered as the promised sea breeze fills in, and the best and last race of the regatta is completed. The Terhunes run away with the win in the Championship fleet, and Diane and Greg Kampf win this race in the Challenger fleet. Fun to watch! Then, as if on cue, thunderstorms that had been threatening, finally let loose to complete the day and complicate hoisting once again, dowsing competitors and sails, once again. With the guidance of the volunteers at the hoist, all goes without incident. At least we had been warm and dry earlier in the day.
Congrats to the winners!! The hurricane-themed regatta is in the books, much to the relief of the race committee, I’m sure.
Dinner-time! The troops organized again for dinner at Trapani’s. This family is amazing. The older brother seems to run the restaurant, then, there are twin younger brothers, one bought us margaritas at the club, the other is the Commodore at the club and was available on award night for pictures. The Patriarch maintains watch at the weather/radio station at the club and monitors the comings and goings. He is omnipresent and helps with communication between RC on the water and volunteers in the club. I’m sure he’s in charge of many other things as well. At Trapani’s, we had our table with Jeff, Amy, Ryan, Carrie, and the Fowlers. Lo and ahold, Harry and crew also join in for a good dinner before the 3 hr trip to their evening destination. We are surprised by the arrival of plates of appetizers that we didn’t order, and we are thankful to Bubby Eagan for his generosity. Yummy stuff. I don’t think there is anything this restaurant makes that we wouldn’t eat. This is really a great small town with wonderful folks.

NAC Thursday

Sorry this is late but....

We try again! Again, it rains when we try to walk the dogs, but we are not deterred. We head toward Spruce Street, in the direction of Ben and Deb’s house where Ryan hopes to some day sample some cappuccino from Ben’s cool machine.
As we travel, we are greeted by 3 dogs that run off their porch (not much in the way of fences or leashes in these parts) and follow us home. Carrie lifted Alfie for the walk back to the house, Missy and Lexi managed to make friends after the human energy calmed down. They seemed young, one brown hound-y looking male, one brindle pit-mix female with white socks on her front feet, and a small, black male with all-too-prominent ribs. We continued on our way home, with our escorts. As we leave to go racing, the female stayed on our steps.

After another long day of racing, Clinton keeps his gun close-by. One race, but Dave and I came in early after some frustration. John and Susan and Ryan and Carrie had some great races that, of course, didn’t count. The pressure is on for getting 2 races in on Friday. We feel like we’ve been sailing for a really long time. Clinton alerts us to wake up even earlier tomorrow; so much for the civilized 1:00 starts and sea breeze schedule.

On the drive home, Dave remembers the dogs from this am. We hope we don’t see the girl when we pull into the driveway. Sadly, she’s still there. We drove in search of the house she came from, and find some nice folks who seemed to actually be concerned about their missing dog. Her name is Bella.
One of the guys follows us back to our house where she remained (phew!) and he takes her home.

Drinks start at the house, dinner at the club was nice, met some new people, and the annual meeting is blessedly short (a little nip doesn’t hurt!).
Blog entries are a little behind schedule, as dinners tend to go a little late and the mornings get earlier and earlier. No WIFI at the house, but we are thankful for Direct TV and cell phone reception. We ARE in backwoods Mississippi (see Amy’s post for pronunciation cues). The house is great, though, excellent situation for regatta-ing. We “heart” our roomies!

Thanks to Amy, here goes;

IN WHICH the Nannering Nabobs of Negativity had their say.

Thursday of the Flying Scot NACs featuring Guest sailor Hurricane Alex brought us a score! The series began! The RC pushed the schedule early, and we started at 10:30, in lightish air (all to the good!), but alas, when the wind began to die, and the RC called a finish at the leeward gate, it was after only three legs.

The NOR requires four legs for any race. (Insert the sound of Mark Taylor quoting Homer Simpson, DOHH!)

So, a second first race, under cloudy skies as the weather settled. And settled. And, during the final leg, shifted and settled some more. The kind of race where the windward leg becomes the leeward leg, and people are flying ‘chutes on the same leg others are beating to weather. Frustrating. Hot like an oven. Zephyr conditions, with the current just starting to flow…John Dane was about two boat-lengths from the finish when the RC called the time limit of two hours. (Repeat sound of Homer Simpson, in chorus: DOOOHHH!) We were in about 4th or so, ten boat-lengths back, ten minutes or so from finishing.

Back to the harbor under tow, three o’clock in the afternoon of Thursday of the week of racing, and not a single point to post on the finish board. (Unless someone can convince the jury that the offset mark makes another leg of the course, but we think that is a long-decided point.) We were over early that one, had to round the end and restart, and had battled back to top ten – which is nice, but still.

Some muttering and moaning on shore, lots of people glad not to be on the Race Committee. Clinton the PRO told us not to take boats our of the water, but many people figured the breeze was dead for the dead – Marcus Eagan was out on a powerboat, towed us in, and then asked if it was a beer-drinkin night… Still, we kept the Mighty Majestic in the water, loosened the rig some, and then BANG! Next start at 4:3o.

This time with feeling. This time, rather, the first race of the series gets off with a nice little seabreeze ruffling the water. And the current starting up. I imagine the RC was ready to sacrifice small furry animals to whatever gods and goddesses rule the –– WAIT right there, HOLD ON! This is the honest-to-goodness South, and we had a Christian blessing at the opening of this event -- so ix-nay on the acrifice-say! Heathens! They had to be about as frustrated as any of the sailors, let’s say that.

Anyway, although the weather looked very dicey, the wind never really let up (the spinnaker collapsed only a couple of times) and Bang! John Dane won by a mile. Bolyard second. We were top ten. Finished racing at 5:45, sailed to the dock, shower by 6:10. Dinner tonight at the club –– we sure earned it.

It’s astonishing to have had this much racing with so little scoring to show. Ryan and Carrie had a fabulous lead in one race for a long while, putting the petal to the metal on Hogwarts Express 2 2/3. I watched (and was ready to witness!) as Harry Carpenter dealt with a windward mark barger so calmly -- so reasonably! -- it was inspiring. He said, in a calm conversational tone, "Do I have to protest you?" To which the other skipper, nameless, replied, "For what?" as he continued to steer at right angles to the offset leg, on port, with a line of starboard tackers beginning to stack up rub-rail to rub-rail.

I imagine there are a thousand stories to catch tonight, but this is pretty much my entire brain contents for now.

NAC Amy Linton to the rescue

Since I am having computer issues Amy Linton has come to the rescue with updates. You all might re-visit the posts for Monday, Tuesday and today.

This may be the end of my following, what with Amy's vastly superior writing skills. Sitting in the club bar bringing the latest and greatest....

NAC Wednesday

1600 Racing cancelled for the day, no races sailed. More storms, heavy rain, etc. Computer is a giant pain in the ass...

Hurricane Alex has seriously put a damper on things here in Bay Waveland. Rain seems to be the theme as the day starts with it, breaks for a bit, then starts again. Missy and Lexi have missed out on longer morning walks so far, but we were treated to Chef John and Susan’s delicious breakfast burritos Wednesday am, since we have a 1:00 start time.
At the club, thunder accompanied Clinton taking down the postponement flag (a sign, perhaps?). Some of us remained on land, and it turned out to be ok, since the brave ones returned shortly, beaten back by another band of storms. Hoist helpers were ready at moment’s notice to assist with launching and hoisting boats back on trailers. This is a serious task, as much of the activity at the hoist takes place during thunder storms! The guys were great. They would assist 50 or so boats in and out on one hoist and one ramp, in crazy conditions with amazingly good humor. Dave and I decided it was a good thing we brought the spray tops. Can’t believe we even thought about leaving them home.

While talk of Bloody Marys in NO continued, Bushwhackers and Margaritas at the club sufficed. Henry Picco had recommended a restaurant,Rickey’s, earlier in the week, and we decided on that for dinner. Our house joined Harry, Carrie and Caroline Berger, Larry Taggert, and Mel, Bill, and Courtney, and Jeff and Amy there. Good food, good stories, good times. The conversation drifted to talking about stuff that freaks us out and this led to laughter that made our stomachs and cheeks hurt, and brought tears to our eyes. Watch out for critters in the boat, Ryan!

Start time moved to 10 ish tomorrow.

OK Amy to the rescue with another awesome recap of today;

Flying Scots NACs
Wednesday, June 30, 2010

In Which We Stay On Shore…

The rain started early and lasted late -- and while the RC tried -- racing was just not gonna happen today.

The day in a nutshell: Lots of standing around and sighing. A ton of staring into the grey and stormy distance. Lots of dualing cell phones with tiny map displays full of bright red polka-dots and green bands. Plenty of discussion about whether it was time (yet? Is it? Is it time yet? Huh huh? Puleeeeze?) to head to New Orleans for Bloody Marys, lunch at Dave-Bolyard-recommended Red Devils, and dessert at Court of Three Sisters. Sigh.

Also a whole lot of speculation about what, in the name of all things holy and profane, was going to happen with the weather. And what in the world was Clinton Edwards carrying a shotgun for (at the skipper’s meeting this morning during a discussion of how to improve on-the-water communications, one of the competitors asked Clinton if he had a gun. NOW he does, and I suggest ain’t nobody going to give the PRO any lip. Not to his face if they know what’s good for him). It’s an 8-gauge, so that’s one big gun.

Some napped, including John Arris, who had lined up a row of dining room chairs and snoozed peacefully until he woke himself up by dream-hiking. The children agitated for more time in the pool. Most of the rest of us chatted, told stories of regattas past, ribbed one another about something or another. Josh Goldman, for instance, has been getting approximately seventeen times his daily ration of shit from Brian Hayes, although during a regatta, one’s ability to metabolize the stuff goes way, way up…

At around 3 or so, even though it looked steely and grey across the water, the postponement flag went down…Despite the thunderclap that sounded just as Clinton reached the flagpole. There was a scramble to launch and head out, only to be turned back to the harbor as the steely and grey storm-clouds began rolling toward us, growling, and the bridge disappeared, and everything got another good rinsing.

What else to report? Last night, we had a late dinner at a beach place in Pass Christian called Shaggy’s (I keep wanting to call it Scooby’s), which gave us a taste of how beautiful a beach-town they grow in Mississippi (Properly pronounced Ms. Zippy). Crawfish in pasta, oysters, and cold drinks. Locals and Flying Scotties elbow to elbow to elbow.

And now, while making good use of their free wifi, BTW, let me say how nice a venue this is, despite the weather: the yacht club of course, like just about everything in this part of the Gulf, was wiped clean by Katrina. They rebuilt the club up on pilings (sorry too wet to bring the camera out), with a big open floorplan that is very pleasant for lounging. Plus, they have not just plentiful hot water supplies in the showers, but big bottles of yummy-smelling beauty products. Jeff and I emerged clean, warm, and sweetly-scented, with no particular plans for the evening, though I suppose dinner is recommended.

Tomorrow’s forecast: Dave Thinel was happy to remind me is down to only 90% chance of rain. Excellent! Clinton has a pocket full of shells, and evidently, a charged-up battery on the RC boat, which spent a long while at anchor while the steely and grey storm-clouds descended and a rescue boat was organized…Still no oil, thank goodness, and it’s good to know that Jim Cantore is in Padre Island, so we don’t expect Alex to visit us directly.

NAC Tuesday Qualifying

Tuesday was a long day for most sailors. The starting time was moved up to 1030 to make up for lost races on Monday. In the end, the fleet didn't make it back to the club till about 1800. Officially, three races were sailed but it seemed and was, much more. A nearly complete race was abandoned the exact reason I don't know. Whats worse was it was a good one for us and would have had us above the cut. Another general recall continued until most of the fleet reached the weather mark where the mark boat spread the recall word.

For some added fun, a bunch of us returned to the club after the abadoned race only to be told to head back out to the course. The ensuing CF as boats were returning while boats inside the harbor tried to tack back out. Must have been fun to watch from the upstairs bar.

We had a bad first race and figured we would need a top five to get back to even. We had that in the race that was abandoned but... After what seemed like hours of sailing around we decided to bag it and returned to the club. So we are in the Challenger division.

Computer issue suck!!! So remedy is AMY!!!

JFS NACs 2010
In which we do a lot of sailing and get pretty tuckered out.

What a crappy day to be race committee! Feeder bands for TS Alex passed over the area, bringing wind to around the low 20’s. Shifting and puffing, and full of dark rain squalls. Today was the qualifying series, which means the fleet of 50 is split into four groups. To make a valid qualifying series, they have to have three races. At the end of the day, the top half of the fleet becomes the championship fleet, and the lower half becomes the challenger fleet. (Maybe those names are wrong, but in essence that’s the deal.)

Postponements, general recalls that took most of the weather leg to rein us in, and abandonments made it frustrating all the way around. Race two was abandoned after the fact, though the RC made a good-faith effort to finish us at the leeward gate. It’s proof of our reliance on this strange semaphore language of flags and horns to communicate between the racers and the folks running the race that we, for one, went ahead and sailed back upwind into the white squall to finish – and got a horn.

We were not especially fast today – not sure if we were not yanking on the main outhaul enough, or if the mast weirdness continues, but tomorrow, we’ll drop the mast and check it all over again. Because tomorrow is another day, here in Mississippi (correctly pronounced “Ms. Zippy”), and the actual racing for the title starts anew.

Rumor has it that Kim and Dave broke their Givashit block. I've had that go, and it's a bummer. Hope we can fix it tonight. There were some other things broken...We had a mainsheet hanging literally by a thread, but it didn’t break, and there were no street-signs used (so far) for boat repair.

Al and Katie were just saying they had a babysitter for little Cameron for nine hours today – a long while to pay a teenager to watch a sleeping baby, and a loooooong time to be hiking my butt off in rain and wind. In the past 45 minutes, I have crashed my bike twice – once narrowly saving myself from a precipitous tumble off the seawall. I am going to sign off now, even though I can’t find results anywhere to link. Bad blogger!

NAC Monday Qualifier

AP up at 1200

1230 Heavy downpour with more cells lining up to the south

1600 Racing canceled for the day steady rain all afternoon with wind gusts to 35 ish.


Start time moved to 1030 Tuesday.


The best racing of the day!

Check out that chute!

The computer is a little fritzy, so we don't have much to say. Jeff and Amy also had their own adventure while attempting to move their boat in the harbor during a squall and ended up dropping anchor and riding out the storm in the middle of the harbor, finding the bow of the Scot to be quite comfy, offering adequate shelter in the storm. Jeff is a big proponent of the bow bag rule, “I totally agree with that rule”. Amy offered that they were, “Happy as clams until we ran out of beer.”
Dave spent the afternoon in the Gov’s meeting, with a brief beer break (others were jealous).

Amy says:

June 28, 2010
In which a last-minute addition to the fleet changes everything.

We are in Mississippi, it bears repeating, in June –– the last thing I expected was that we would be shivering. But there we were, at anchor, huddled under the front combing of the Flying Scot while lightning crashed all around, and the rain came down as if by firehose.

The Flying Scot class recently passed regulations that require a flotation bag (essentially a big swim floatie) in the bow of the boat. Which made our sojourn up in the bow actually pretty pleasant. Kind of like leaning against one of those inflatable dorm chairs, but if everything were shoved into a small broom-closet. Still, we had each other, and with the big aluminum mast deck-stepped rather than stepped through to the hull, the lightning strikes just aren’t as alarming. One thing missing of course was the cooler with beer and sandwiches, which we had not yet put onto the boat before our little adventure began.

The thunderstorms started Sunday night, with the first feeder-bands of Tropical Storm Alex doing slowly moving through. While I lost most of this (Monday) morning to a migraine, Jeff finished up a few key boat issues (change the spin sheets end-for-end. Reposition the mast to its usual spot (How DID it go 5 inches forward? We sailed at 28/9 yesterday for practice and oddly, we were competitive. Weird.) Replace the main halyard, that sort of thing). So when I emerged from my cozy bear-cave after my Zomeg-enhanced nap, I was surprised to find there was no sunshine. But Jeff had launched the boat (yay!), and we were ready to go...

In one of those nearly-very-bad decisions, Jeff and I took a look down the bay and figured we should move the boat to a closer into the harbor. Our timing was off by about 30 seconds or ten feet. Wall of wind, big windage, one small paddle, but expert deployment of the anchor made us the live entertainment hightlight of the morning. A row of spectators showed each time we swung on the anchor around toward the club. Thanks, fellow sailors by the way, for making the over/under bets on how far from the dock we would be when the weather hit rather than, say, tossing us a line.

Al Terhune and young Andrew Eagan (Marcus’s little brother, who is probably not as young as he looks to us) came to rescue us. Thanks guys. When the rain lightened up, they bailed out a powerboat and came to haul us to shore. Thanks also to Kimie Thinel and Deb Williams who were all ready to swim to our rescue. Especially thanks considering Marcus spotted a 7-foot gator the other evening while wade-fishing. (Apparently both fishing parties were startled and backed quickly away into the night)

We saw a great MacGyver fixit episode today: in the middle of being lifted by hoist from the water in big breeze, an older FScot broke its tabernacle – pulled the big bolt right out of the wood. What to use…what to use…hm, how about a street-sign? Nobody needed to know the speed limit right there anyhow. So with a few quick saw cuts, and some bolts, presto change-o, a boat as good as new, plus a little bit more pictureque.

No funnel clouds, lots of lightning, rain, plenty of breeze: The afternoon passed slowly, and the weather never really cleared up enough to permit racing. The bar opened early downstairs. There was a lot of socializing and an early Directors meeting. We needed but didn’t have a set of Giant Jenga. Racing was postponed until around 3:30, when the day was officially called off.

Fish fry at 6, meanwhile, a warm shower and see if I didn’t pack a couple of sweatshirts for Jeff and me.

NAC - Sunday

Sunday brought slightly cooler breezier weather, a good thing. On Saturday I picked up the boom from inside the boat and soon found myself looking to put it down somewhere fast, before my hand was burned. That’s hot!

More check-ins today which seemed to go smoothly, as far as we could tell. Then at 1 pm the Junior and Womens championship got underway. There was a nice turnout for both fleets, I didn’t get the exact figures but 15 Juniors and around 10 Womens seems about right. The talk was that the heavier crews were favored since the breeze was pretty solid.

We went out for a sail in the afternoon to see how the new boat felt. Overall, not bad but I am feeling a little rusty and the boat has a different feel than Pig Pen. We have switched to the snug rig so it might take some time to get up to speed. Hopefully not too much time!

The forecast is hot with fairly typical sea breeze and not too much chance of thunderstorms for Monday. As the week goes on the breeze is expected to build; Wednesday may be 15 to 25. Guessing this is the result of tropical storm Alax which seems headed for Mexico or maybe Texas.

The rental house is mostly cool, a little rustic but pretty good for a regatta base. Our two dogs are getting along good with Alfe; a 2 year old Yorkshire terrier. The game is on!

More tomorrow.

2010 NAC Bay Waveland YC

Well, the answer to the repeated question, “When are you going to use the new boat?” will finally be answered. Not long ago, Dave received a call from a Miami sailor interested in a Scot. Dave receives calls frequently, since he is the FL contact on the website and he’s often aware of available boats in the state. Pig Pen wasn’t officially for sale, but the more they conversed, the decision was made and we received a deposit on the Pig last Friday. Then came the question of whether we take it to the NACs or not. We had pretty much decided to sail one last NAC in Pig Pen, then start campaigning 4901 this season. Ah, well. Since Pig Pen is now effectively someone else’s boat,we don’t want anything to happen, so we changed tacks, and started to prep 4901. Dave toiled in the heat to reset the rig perfectly for snug, and as we were cleaning up after the final measurements (seemingly hours and hours later), Dave noticed the starboard shroud had broken wires –UGH! Well, 2 new shrouds measured in the same compared to each other, but just a tad different from the old ones. So much for our perfect measurements. Dave cut new holes on the plates already! As someone very wise says, it is what it is…

Thanks to Ryan for new sail numbers! Stay tuned to see how it goes…

9:50 am, Friday, June 25, 2010
Turned off everything, check. Dogs in the van, check. Boat attached, check. Full tank, check. New road atlas, check. Avoid creepy neighbor while packing, check!
Left house.

Packed the van strategically for space for the pups, Missy assumes her position in the navigator seat (between us) in full view of map. Lexi was further back, looks comfy, settling in for the trip. We made reservations in DeFuniak Springs for the night, we could have gone further, however, reservations were more expensive the closer to MS we checked and, with the dogs, we didn’t want to risk a pop in. It feels weird to have our goal so close, probably shortest drive yet for a destination regatta.
We started reading Mortal Fear by Greg Iles 2 wks ago on a trip across the state, we have lost touch with our little serial killer, so back to that today.

Breaking news! Hans just posted…The baby is ready! And there was much excitement!

Thinking about racing, we feel like it may be a sweat fest, no movement in the trees on the highway. A friend called from home stating the temp was 106 degrees in the shop where he works. YIKES.

4:30 pm DeFuniak Springs
We could have made it all the way to MS, but, what the heck? Got the room, we can’t get into our house till afternoon tomorrow, so, it’s all good. The lobby thermometer says it’s 102.7 degrees.

Other things on our minds…Last night, on the news, they reported for the first time, there is oil in the Mississippi Sound – great.
Today, we watched the weather folks talk excitedly about a Tropical Depression in the Gulf. Seems to be going toward TX. Must keep watch.


NAC 2 Saturday, June 26, 2010

Well, the weather experts are not sending any spaghetti our way, phew! Good news!
All our clocks say 8:40, but a cool time zone shift makes it actually 7:40 am when we leave our Travelodge. Kinda nice. It should only take us a few hours to drive to Bay Waveland YC, located in Bay St. Louis, MS.

Jeff and Amy Linton called last night as they drove through Biloxi. Apparently, there’s a beachside Dillard’s/Shopping Mall. Quite a use for waterfront property. On Friday nights, the folks gather on the street, drink their beer, and watch the cars go by. As we drove the same route this am, we observed the remnants of said street-hang-out party. Must have been a good one judging from the empties...

Around 11:30, we reach BWYC for measuring. Kim hangs with the girls in the shade that is the ground floor of the club building and has a little snack, sharing a bit with Lexi and Missy, as they are at their cutest when one is eating. Dave was busy sweating in the sun while measuring in. All goes well with us, but we drew the lucky (easy, and least difficult to measure-items) list which did not involve weighing the boat or measuring the centerboard. That was nice, it went quickly for us. Others were not so lucky…. Can you say sandpaper!?
It’s hot at the club, so we decide to go in search of our house-for-the-week. It took a bit of sight-seeing, but we made it, and it seems good to us! Looking forward to sharing with Ryan and Carrie and John and Susan Domagala. After absorbing the AC for a couple of hours, we return to the club to see how the sanding is going with friends who have to work on their boards before passing the rigors of measuring in, and to meet up with new arrivals. Harry’s boat weighs in perfectly perfect and the centerboard has no issues. The boat is for sale! It’s new! What a deal!!


The club and the new Hwy 90 bridge
The sun sets, it’s nice to visit with Amy and Jeff, who have a short bike ride back to the Winnie for the night, and we return to the house to check in on the pups and prepare for Sunday. We hope to splash the boat and practice a little with other Team Florida members (and anyone else who feels like sailing). The Women’s and Juniors race in their NACs Sunday, too.


What is that Pig doing here?


Above and below are taken just west of the club, amazing how 5 years after Katrina it still looks like this


The rental house has no wifi so we will try regular updates but that will probably slow us down a little...

Tampa Fleet Race

What a day! 9 boats in the parking lot and 8 on the line. Most teams were out or off the dock by 1330. The weather was reminiscent of the race a few years ago when the fleet got rocked by a 45k squall. Yup, the area was peppered
with thunderstorms but a review of the radar was favorable, HA! The reality was that two cells, one Southwest one Northwest, merged and swept the upper bay. Fortunately, they didn't pack quite the punch of the said infamous storm. That didn't stop Dave Clement and Charlie Clifton from capsizing # 38, something about a ipod..... Dave and Charlie got her up and going without too much fuss however. The majority of the teams beat feet for the harbor yet
Mark and Stu Taylor and Jeff and Tina Tinret stayed out without too much drama.
The weather cleared and Team Taylor, (Tom, Drew, Lilly) did a awesome job with the races in a lightish Eastsoutheasterly. A valiant effort at a fourth race
was attempted but guess what?
It was cool in the pool with big girl/boy drinks followed by a up the river romp aboard Dave Germans big ole retro cabin cruiser ( 42' Chris Craft?)
Bridge clearance was a bit of a issue with the incoming tide but if not for the courage of the fearless crew the Minnow wiggled under!
Results soon, Linton, Silvernail, ???
Great luck to Team Tampa with next weeks NAC's in Mississippi, Rock the Gulf!!
Next Fleet practice is July 10th At 1500 1500 1500 an hour later to get some seabreeze. We need Race Committee for the event.

Andy

Hull Repair - Part 2

Ok, I messed up a little with the pictures, what else is new? In Hull Repair Part 1 we left off with the glass applied from inside the hull. The next little bit did not get photographed but what happened was we sanded the hull to form a bevel that extends about two inches around the cut out. After the bevel was sanded some filler was used to avoid air pockets and then a couple layers of glass was applied.


Sanding the glass smooth and flush with the hull



Another view of the sanded area


Sanded and ready to fill the inevitable small voids


The filler applied is 3M Marine Filler which sets up quickly and sands well


Sanding the filler smooth


Sanded smooth and papered and ready to spray the gelcoat


Gelcoat being sprayed


More spraying


Almost done with gelcoat


Here we have the gelcoat finished and curing, once cured the paper will come off


We sanded the area with 600 grit to knock down the overspray and finish the repair

We spent little time trying to match the gelcoat because it would have been impossible anyway. The existing gelcoat is old and has tiny crackes everywhere so matching the texture would be impossible. So we sanded it to 600 and called it good. At that point it only has a slight gloss which helps it blend. Ordinarily you would sand to 2000 then buff for a high gloss but that would have looked silly against the rest of the old boat. I figure a few outings at the club with some dock rash from the rubber bumpers strategically placed and you will never spot the repair.