FL District Championship, Miami 2011

The creepy neighbor is stalking the contractors building his new house right next to ours. We try to dodge him as much as possible but with the project in full swing it is getting more difficult. He startled Kim early in the morning “So, what do you think?” Says CN nodding towards the concrete slab and mass of cement blocks. This seems to be his new favorite line, a real conversation starter, especially with the ladies. Later the car and boat are loaded and ready, we are happy to see he must have left for the day. We are pulling out with the boat in tow and gasp, he comes around the corner in his car, pauses for a chat and we hit the gas..... Off to Miami!

We are headed for Naples for the night which leaves an easy drive into Miami Saturday am. The last time we raced we forgot the spinnaker pole (not recommended) so we are hoping not to pull off another bonehead move like that. I’m pretty sure we’re good.

Sadly we are driving while the Rays are playing game one of the playoffs in Texas. Would have much preferred the TV to radio but so far the Rays are hot and off to an early lead so no complaints. During one of the radio breaks there is a news flash; today is the last chance to have sex with an animal! Oh crap, I didn’t know! Yes the FL legislator saw the need to pass a law against it and it takes affect at midnight. Seems the folks in the panhandle are the culprits and are ruining it for the rest of us.

The trip to Coconut Grove Sailing Club is smooth and we quickly see quite a few Scots. We were hoping for a good number of boats this year but I found about two last minute cancellations so we weren't sure how it would go. We get rigged quickly and “Oh shit the mast is bent” oh well, to late to deal with it now. While trailering and looking in the rear view mirror it appeared bent but I figured it was distortion or illusion or whatever. No idea how it happened but it is not too bad.

Light breeze for Saturday’s first race, maybe 5 to 7 or so, and from the Northwest. To which the locals say; “it never does that”. By the end of the first beat we are relieved to see that the bent mast is no issue, we have boat speed. When the pack made it back down to the leeward mark the wind went to about 1, when it wasn’t 0. RC tried a shortened finish at the weather mark but few made it and the race was abandoned.

Back at the very hot and still club we had the bright idea to hang at the Marriott pool, where Jim and Richard are staying. Yes, Jim Egan and Richard E. are back! Another group of travelers including Ron, Barry, John D. Terry, Mark and Dawn were staying at a nearby condo, they had the pool idea too. Upon meeting up at Flanagan’s for dinner we learned that there pool was hot so they retired to the cool a/c in the condo and watched porn. Hmmm...... We have no pictures of that!

Sunday morning is nice and somewhat cool. The weather forecast was for the first cold front of the season to dip down into FL and it felt good. We found a nice 8 knot northerly at the club and the early dark clouds seemed to be dissipating. A promising day. As we head out the Dinner Key Channel we notice some bumps way out toward the east and southeast. Interesting for a light-ish breeze we think. The plan is for a 10:30 start and 3 races to try to make up for Saturday. The course is about set and at 10:20 we have a 50 degree righty and whitecaps. “Crap!” say the lightweights. After a short postponement the course is reset (and bumpy) and we are underway and hiking. After two good W/L four leggers the pack is tight. Jim and Mark are tied with 5 points while Ron, John and I are tied with 7 points. The third race was shortened to two legs, with a mile beat. Jim jumped out to the right and grabbed a bullet and the regatta! Congratulations to Jim and Richard! Mark and Dawn finished second and John and Terry were third. Good job to all.

Here is a summary of the scores; 1-Jim 6 pts, 2-Mark 9, 3-John 13, 4-Bob McElwain 13, 5-Ron 14, 6-Dave 15, 7-Tom McNally 19, 8-Vladimir Stroleny 21, 9-Larry Ames 28, 10- Bud Price 30, 11-Larry Whipple 33, 12-Henry Bernstein 33, 13- Ryan Alexander 39, 14-Henry Picco 44.

Mark your calendar for our next district championship regatta in Sarasota Nov. 5-6. It will be great to see the big crowd in Sarasota.