Flying Scots and The Florida District: 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.