Gator Bowl 2012

Friday, Nov 30...Travel day
Left home a little later than scheduled, due to more work at the hospital for Kim. We did make it on the road by 10:45, though, only to discover the book we had started on the last road trip was still at home. Crap! Tragedy strikes as we will not be able to keep up with Serge's new adventures as he blog his way through Florida in Tim Dorsey's book, Nuclear Jellyfish. Fortuately, have some backups to chose from, we read halfway through Janet Evanovich's Notorious 19.

3:30 At the Rudder Club, and it's sunny with some nice breeze but sadly, we arrived too late to join in on some tuning up. The forecast looks good for tomorrow, 10-12 mph and partly sunny.

Dec. 1, Saturday
Early morning, warm, sun breaking through the clouds, Kim enjoyed a little pre-race run and things were going smoothly as we set up the boat.

As boats were being launched, the wind and chop was increasing and a boat decided not to behave on the dock. It broke free and was headed precariously toward the bridge as the wind and current pushed it in that direction. Todd sped into action, starting a mark boat and rescuing the Scot.

The wind decreased as we approached the racing area, and ultimately died as the starting time approached. This was not at all what we expected from the predictions from all weather websites. Did I mention we were rained on several times, too? Mostly, a thick mist, but enough to make everything wet.

Dinner was fantastic and we watched the SEC Championship Game, so all was not lost.
We'll see if the weather websites are on target for tomorrow. So far, at 10:00 am, the wind is supposed to be E at 8 mph, and by 1:00, 10mph, and party sunny. Hope so!

Sunday, at least it was sunny and warm. We started a race in what might have been two knots of breeze. Not too surprising since we had been skunked on Saturday sop we make the best of it. It was a slow torturous affair and the 90 minute time limit looked to be in play. As the leaders began to close in the weather mark a powerboat raced to the scene and quickly dropped a hook and signaled shorten course, three legs. I think there were three minutes or so remaining when the Lintons crossed the line in first.

The next race, UGH!!! was started in about 5 or 6 knots which appeared quickly and disappeared as quickly. Soon it was back to 2 knots and torture. I guess it was good that the current was helping on the runs downwind. The Lintons prevailed again for a sweep of the 2 race regatta. The cream rises to the top as they say. Ryan Malmgren had 2 seconds for a fine showing as well.

Wally will be staying in Florida again this year.

The next district race will be January 12 and 13 in Port Charlotte. Out.

Jeff Penfield Memorial Regatta

The Jeff Penfield Memorial Regatta had a very promising weather forecast, lots of sun and highs near 80. We arrived Friday night to find our Tampa friends enjoying dinner at the Squadron. Most of the gang was camping on site in either an RV or tent. We took the primo spot out on the point (water on three sides) and parked the RV for the weekend.

Saturday am was nice but calm so we had a leisurely morning and slightly delayed start. Once the breeze filled in, we had perfect conditions which allowed for three nice W/L races. The Lintons ended the day with a 1 point advantage over the Morgans. The rest of us were grouped in a fairly small pack for places 3 through 7.

A nice dinner was followed by some good socializing under another really nice 3/4 moon.
Later in the evening the fog rolled in which became thick enough to get the trees raining on the tents and RVs.

Sunday morning was calm and with fog burning off we were waiting ashore for the sea breeze to arrive. Eventually it did, kind of, but never really became solid. We got one race in that was a frustrating slow affair. The RC was kind enough to call off the 5th race and we headed back to the club. The Morgans won the last race while the Lintons were 2nd which produced a tie. Congrats to the Morgans who took the tiebreaker! Awards were given to the top five; 2- Lintons, 3- Taylors, 4- Strammers and 5- Silvernail/Fisher.

We had the honor of awarding the Jeff Penfield Leadership award to Ron Pletsch. The award was presented by the Penfield family last year and is awarded to the person best promoting the district, new sailors, fleet growth and actively sailing in the District Championship. Ron has been leading the way for many years and was truly deserving of the award.

Results are posted on fssa.com. The next race is in Jacksonville, Dec. 1 and 2.

2012 Flying Scot Wife/Husband Champ. Part 2

Sunday, October 7

Day 2 of Racing
Cold, dreary, cloudy, gray, colder than yesterday. The boats were pretty damp from a bit of rain last night, as well. Two extra shirt layers recommended, and since we noticed there was some breeze this morning, we continued with the old main and spin, new jib sailplan. Two races scheduled for today, hope it doesn't blow much more!

Our results were better today, third in both races, or so we thought...the second place boat in the second race was OCS, which gave us a two! This helped our cause substantially, although we didn't medal in the event, fourth place will motivate you to continue training for four more years(!!!)
Wilson and Bonnie Jenkins (with help from their girls) put on an excellent event with an Olympic themed awards ceremony. The symphony played (over the sound system), the music from the Olympics and gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded accompanied by a bouquet of colorful flowers. Great job, Muscle Shoals!!

Gold: Jeff and Amy Linton
Silver: Chris and Monica Morgan
Bronze: Sue and Tim Stombaugh

Overall, a strong performance by Team Florida. Way to go, you traveling fools!

We thought we might stop in Dothan, AL, lots of hotels to choose from...I was imagining chips, salsa, margaritas...the hotel/restaurant pairings featured Mexican restaurants prominently. As we drove past Dothan, we discussed how tired our eyes were (stinging, actually) and how nice it will be to close them, suddenly, the road was dark. Ahhhh, the emptiness of LA (lower AL) and north FL (above I-10). Thank goodness Marianna has grown to 5hotels. We were able to find an acceptable Microtel for the night and caught the end of the SD/NO game. Showered and in bed by 10:30CT/11:30ET

One positive, more driving tonight, less driving tomorrow...and closer to the pups!

Safe travels to all our driving friends who may be going till late into the night.

2012 Flying Scot Wife/Husband Champ. Part 1

Wife Husband Weekend, October 6,7 2012
Joe Wheeler State Park, Muscle Shoals, AL

We were able to take Thursday off work, and we hit the road just before 11:00am. The plan was to drive as far as comfortable, and arrive in Muscle Shoals on Friday early enough to set up and sail. For the ride, we recently borrowed Randy Wayne Wright's Black Widow from the always reliable and fantastic, favorite dog-watching family. Silly bridesmaids.

3:30 pm. Driving past Tallahassee, and the rest of Team Tampa are meeting at the rest stop at I-4 and 75, when Lisa checks in. Good to hear from the Haywards, we'll be checking in with them along the way, maybe you've seen the Linton-Hayward-Silvernail convoy pics on fb. Mark is also in attendance as support crew/bartender, the gang is all together, and Team FL will be complete when John and Sue Domagala meet us at the Lodge.

Crossed the time zone line around 4:00, turning north after Marianna, FL and heading toward Dothan. A quick stop at the AL Visitor's Center scored us some hotel coupons and info for the night. Attempted a stop at exit 179 which seemed to have a good selection of hotels and restaurants, but a surly counter girl and some full hotels had us back on the road a bit to Clanton, exit 205, where a Best Western was our home for the night.

Friday, October 5
After a leisurely wake-up, the second half of the trip went more quickly than we expected. The rest of Team Tampa ended up with our surly friend at exit 179, and we arrived at the beautiful entrance to Joe Wheeler State Park around 10:30 local time. Harry and Karen were already in the parking lot setting up, and we joined them. Sailors needed to ramp launch and sail or be towed to the docks at the Lodge. By noon, we're in the water, and by 1:40 pm, we're checked in. The Lodge has a restaurant and we had some tasty lunch before tuning up out on the lake.

Saturday, October 6
First day of racing!!!!
Tune up wardrobe consisted of T-shirts and shorts, this morning it was gray, and 52 deg. Ugh!
We brought and wore most of the clothes we owned and after the skipper's meeting, an enterprising soul golf carted some hats to the docks and scored a bundle from the chilly, unprepared southern folks. Capitalism at work!
As we sailed to the course, "Smoke on the Water" came to mind. The water was warmer than the air for a very cool effect. As lakes will be, the shiftiness abounded. We did well in the first race and the wind shifted left and right and up and down. RC made a few adjustments and the sun started to make an appearance. We haven't auto tacked in a long time, was the observation of the day. In the third race, it seemed like we couldn't do anything right, and poor planning at the start snowballed into a big mess.

Back at the room, warm, showered and dry, dinner is outside at Shelter #3 in a little bit. Thoughtful RC left some time to catch up on some football and blogging before dinner. Anticipating similar conditions tomorrow.
Gators just beat LSU!

Sarasota Fleet Racing Mayhem

We have been "enjoying" quite a bit of rain lately which is typical for this time of year. The forecast for this weekend was improving so we thought maybe we would give it a go with the Sarasota fleet. It was looking like the perfect day and the weather gods had the storm chance at 20%. In the summer 20% is as low as it gets so we decide to go.

The 7 Scots met up at I mark where we would start the racing, perfect sea breeze, all good. We did the first race and lost the lead to Bob Twinem on the run but we held off Marshall Pardey for second. I recall looking at the cloud bank to the south and thinking it looked a bit odd. It didn't look threatening but the height was impressive and the edges looked really hard but the color was still white. Hmmm...

Race 2 was a good one for us, we did a "Ron" out to the left and rounded with a big lead. Running to the finish the white clouds were getting quite a bit more gray and some occasional rumbling could be heard. Since the weather was coming from the south and we had to go that way to return to the club I pulled out the cell phone for a look at the radar. "Jib up, were are heading in" There is an impressive cell running up the coastline.

We are the only wimps, the rest of the gang does a third race. As we approach the club the south is getting dark, we are pretty sure the others are in for it. We do the fire drill thing at the hoist and scramble to get the mast down before the shit hits the fan. The sky is now pretty black and the rumbling nearly constant. I snapped a couple photos with the cell phone;

Looking out the club dock with breeze on from the south, good that the fetch isn't too long. 

This is taken from the BBQ pavilion looking north where the fleet is. The leading edge of the cell has passed over our heads and is heading north.

One of the newer members of the fleet; Brian and Lisa live in Longboat Key so they high-tailed it back to the canal and arrived before the front. That leaves 5 on the water and we can soon see 4 boats capsized. As it turns out Bob Twinem was the only one who got the sails down in time and did not capsize. He rode out the storm on anchor, a lesson to be remembered. The 4 that capsized all swamped and got a tow back to the club. We also could see one of the boats under tow while still on its side, that was a first. I couldn't figure that out, but assumed the mast was still in tact or the boat would have righted itself or flipped upside down. I was having a bad visual of the mast at this point.

At the ramp waiting for the trailer and the slow drain.

Tow Boat US leaves after making and receiving a deposit from the club dock.

Marshall's boat #400 back at the hoist also doing the slow drain.  Note the small triangular thingy on the port seat.

It turns out this was the boat being towed on its side. When Marshall and Richard were attempting to right the boat they snapped the board off, the triangular piece is the souvenir to remember the day. That explains the strange tow into a spot where they could right the boat, then finish the tow in conventional fashion.

The mast is still staight! I know, WTF!!!!

In fact all the masts were undamaged, another surprise given the length of time the boats were over. All the people were undamaged as well, so it worked out mostly ok.

The proper use and installation of bow bags and transom ports is another story!

NAC 2012 Wrap Up

So we are home and back to the norm (sweating a lot) while doing the usual stuff. We usually do a wrap, final thoughts, or whatever you call it after a regatta. So here goes...

Heat is a relative thing, then there's that old humidity discussion that you have to have when discussing extreme heat or cold. The majority of time we spent in Carlyle was pretty nice with temps in the 90's and pleasant evenings. We were running the RV A/C and I was perplexed about why there was so little or no water running of the roof. Yep, it is that humidity thing. When we run it here in FL there is a heavy drip or slight stream that runs off the roof and down the side wall. So at one point I went online and discovered the humidity was only 30 something percent that day in Carlyle. That would be a new record in Florida. So today it is a typical 93 degrees and I was outside for a few minutes at lunch and I was drenched in sweat. Welcome home and Happy Humidity!

You may recall that we were unable to post pics while on the trip. Wait, let me begin with, we got a new Ipad which is awesome except for the part where I could not figure out how to add pics to this blog. This may be related to some Java script thing, I really don't know. Not even slightly aware of what java does inside a computer, familiar with how it works in a coffee mug but that may not be the same thing. Anyway, since we are able to post pics from home i am dropping a few in this post.

The Carlyle Sailing Ass. sits within the Eldon Hazlet State Park. This park is pretty nice with lots of sites, trees, bugs, cabins, deer, etc. If you are ever in this area and happen to have your RV with you it would be worth a visit. I cannot recommend tent camping for a variety of reasons but many people do it.

Here we have a view of the lake from our campsite, the sites were heavily shaded and perfect for the hot sunny weather we had all week.

Tuesday was the second day of qualifying and only one raced was needed so we had some free time to kill. We hit the Walmart for some supplies and once again could not find any Walmartians. Must be something in the water... Then we went "downtown" to have some lunch at Lubars, which was really good.

A view down Main Street in the town of Carlyle which, according to the sign has a population of 3500.   

Kim, Susie and John Damagala in front of Lubar's where we enjoyed a good lunch Tuesday afternoon.

Train tracks, Silos and silly tourists, what can you do?

Back to sailing for a moment, the club did a good job hosting the event. I will say that it appeared that a relative few volunteers were all doing a lot of volunteering. I guess this would be a good time to urge you all to help pitch in when your club is hosting a regatta. There is nothing like a good number of friendly volunteers to make a regatta a really good time. That's enough about that.

Threw this one in in the event anyone was curious about the scenery in this part of the world.  It all pretty much looks something like this.

We were really glad to make this trip with Missy and Lexi, our two black labs with us. They travel really well and are good for entertainment along the way.

Lexi assuming her position in the Dinette of the RV. Her main hobby is collecting shoes.

Missy is not shown here but if you use your imagination you can picture another black dog that looks a lot like Lexi. Sort of. The main difference between the two is Missy is in almost constant motion, so a pic of her is likely to be blurry.

Ok, more about sailing. We ended up 13 which seems about right to us though we would enjoy winning way more. The problem with winning is you have to be much better than we are and that would take practice, and lots of it. Honestly, I am not all that interested in the practice part so it is what it is.

The other thing is that we are talking about lake sailing. It seems that the best strategy was to pick a side, commit to it and hope like hell you picked the right one. In this way, it reminded me of sailing at Davis island, stay away from the middle and hope.

We were really mediocre on the windward legs but had some steller runs where we passed many boats. I think the racing would be a lot more fun if we could start with the chutes up and drag race to the bottom of the lake. Just sayin.

Arrived home to discover a slightly worn trailer tire. 

Apparently there were a lot of tire issues with the other racers. Not sure why but my bet is that most trailer tires seem to be real crap, lots of chinese manufacturing these days. The bright side is car/truck tires seem much better.

Another theory is that some of the interstates are in such bad shape these small tires get the shit beat out of them. So much for all those "shovel ready jobs" we here about all the time. More like shoveling BS.

Only a small amount of damage was done to the fender, an easy fix. Just in case you are wondering the tire still has 75 psi, so it was NOT operator error!

Another nice thing about towing a Scot with an RV is you can and do completely forget its there. If you look closely at the following picture and check the rear view mirror you will see the view of the boat. See it? That's because you can't. Unlike towing with the van or car you can't hear it either. Talk about denial. I am guessing that we would have no idea if the tire had blown or not. As a responsible driver I do click on the rear camera about every hour to see if it is still back there. It's seems good to narrow down the search area if it should go missing.

We noticed several areas where a tornado had recently cleared a path in the  brush/woods along the interstate in Georgia. Bad pic though... 

What next... Oh Yeah the Lintons ROCK!!! This is the second time they have won the NAC, the first was in 2007 at Fishing Bay. Amy and Jeff celebrated by selling their boat! can you believe that?!! They also were wearing bow number 13 which is just flat wrong!
Anyway they traded the boat on a new one Harry was sailing all week. It is number 59 hundred something or other and is white on white on white on white like Jeff wanted, so they are happy campers. Congrats Again!!!

Passing the Flamingo with John and Susie so I had to get a pic, we did not actually go there but since I shot it out the sunroof of the "Clifford" I felt compelled to add it here.

Thanks to all who followed this blog all week. Out

NAC 2012, Leaving Lake Carlyle, Friday 6/29

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RC made wise decision and had 2 races Thursday, although the wind didn't cooperate exactly as planned. The original schedule was for one race Thursday, and one race Friday. Forecasted temperatures were for 104-107 deg or, at least over 100 deg for both Thurs and Fri, and they wanted to try to get us in and out early Thursday, and off the parking lot before the heat of the day. They rescheduled racing to start at 0900 on Thursday, hoping their plan would work. Unfortunately, the wind died during the first beat, the Challenger division couldn't even get off the line, and the RC abandoned the race in swift fashion. We floated around for a bit, then they sent us in for an on shore postponement. The predicted wind was out of the West / Southwest, and we weren't seeing any of that early in the day. They rescheduled us for a 1:00 start. So much for getting out of the parking lot in the heat of the day.
Fortunately, the wind came up, and after a trip back to the campsite to see the girls (who are really doing great, by the way, this camping thing seems to agree with them), they got 2 races off in the afternoon. Did we mention it was a dry heat? Like a convection oven left on long after the Thanksgiving turkey was finished and dessert was served. The weathermark was near the most southern part of the lake and the puffs that came down from the dam were quite something. Weird to have such a hot breeze near the cool water, but smart hydration kept Team FL in the game!
Yummy pig roast and awards dinner, much nicer to have the racing done, and have all the awards presented at this evening event instead of after racing on Friday when we're all hot and trying to get ready to leave. As stated on previous post, Jeff and Amy won the belt buckle for the 2nd time, Davis Island won the Fleet Award, and Team Hobbs takes home the Father/Son award. There were some other awards, too...
It was really nice to have so many boats from FL represented!
Next big things: Wife/Husband Regatta in October, Muscle Shoals, AL We have our lodge reservation, do you??!!!
Sarasota Midwinters in March, Team FL- get your volunteer hats on!
Next NAC, Lake Norman, NC Only 10 hours from Tampa area! Team FL- let's do it again!

Friday, we left the campsite around 8:30 am. Crossed bridge into KY around 1040, or so, we started thinking about where we would stop for the night, and had anticipated we would stop before Atlanta if it looked like we would be in the midst of rush hour on Friday evening, so Adairsville it is! We contacted Amy and Jeff who left after us from IL, when they said they might not be meeting us at the campground (and pool) because of a breakdown. ugh. They were by the side of the road in Paducah, and at the time of this post, it looks like that's where they'll be spending the night.

The new boat is ok, though...there was a wicked 3-way with boats at the end of the regatta. (A wild transport crew shuffle started the regatta...John Kreidler and Tom Lawton rode together to the regatta, Adam Keene flew into Indy and rode with Carrie Carpenter, and Ryan Malmgren and Harry Carpenter rode alone from what I know. Adam ended up crewing with JK, TL crewed for Ryan, and Carrie was with Dad, but back to the boat story...) Jeff bought the new boat Harry brought to the regatta, Mark Taylor bought Jeff and Amy's 4925, and Harry went home with Blastoff - Mark's 4321. Neato!!

We arrived into GA around 4:50 pm ET and one more hour to Adairsville. Harvest Moon RVPark. Good reviews on the site. Has pool, 'nuff said.

6:00 pm ET 105 deg. Forecast is a low of 68 deg. tonight, how can that happen? Unlike Lake Carlyle, we are sweating like "Piggies." The RV did well in the heat, we worked it hard today. By 8:30 pm, we had been in the pool twice. Slight negative, no bevvies allowed in the pool area...we'll get around that somehow, no worries : )

NAC 2012 Races 4-5

The Lintons rallied to overcome a pretty big deficit to win the NAC for the second time.

We rallied a little as well to get 13th.

Davis Island won the best fleet award using Jeff's, our's and Greiner Hobb's scores.

It was way HOT, reported by many to be 107 at the high. The puffs down by the dam were like opening the oven door and getting the heat blast.

Scores are up at fssa.com. Will write more tomorrow, we are zapped.

NAC 2012 Race 1 -3

The RC decided to change the schedule so we did 3 races today. The forecast for Thursday and Friday is for highs around 103 to 105. Today was only 90 something and breeze was nice.

So after a relatively short postponement to address some scoring issues in the Qualifying series we got out on the water. With nice wind and no general recalls it didn't take long to knock out 2 races. Sadly, they favor returning to the club for lunch so around 12:30 thats what we did. The next harbor gun would be at 2:30 for a 3:00pm warning, this was widely unpopular with most racers but....

It worked out and we got the 3rd race done and were back in the club by 5 or a little before. All the races were tricky but the third had less wind and seemed trickiest, at least to us. We never had much going and ended up with all three scores in the teens. What can you do, make a little mistake and lose 5 boats.

The Red boat is kicking butt, Kelly is second and The Lintons are third!!

So back to the weather, the start on Thursday has been bumped to 9 am to try to get us off the water before it gets really hot. If it works out there will be 2 races sailed and that will be a series so no sailing Friday. Works for us, we can head south to Florida and cool down.

Results= fssa.com.

NAC Qualifying Day 2

Schedule-wise this was the lightest day of the week since we only needed to get one more qualifier race in. There was a nice breeze left over from Monday, so we had no delays. Most crews were prepping for heavy air but by the time the signal sounded it had dropped to under 10. The first group started clean and the second did the same with only a slight delay between signals. The two fleets became one which made the RC's job of scoring everyone a little tricky. There were big packs of boats finishing at nearly the same time. UGH!

The gang from Florida seems to make the cut for the Championship Division which is a releif to all. You never know about these things. As of now we have not actually seen the results but we think we know...

The best place to get results is fssa.com.

The rest of the day was pretty much filled with beer drinking with a little diversion in to the town of Carlyle. An interesting little place.

A bunch of the sailers rented lakeside cabins and they got together to host a party. What a sweet arrangement, a nice elevated bluff with a great view out over the lake.

So tomorrow starts the real racing and rumor has it they may attempt to get 3 races in instead of just 2. The weather forecast for Thursday and Friday is HOT, depending on the source they are calling for highs between 102 and 106. Yike! So the idea is to avoid some of that heat.

Out.

NAC 2012 Qualifying Day 1

Finally, the day we've been waiting for! Racing!! There are 3 Qualifying races scheduled for today and tomorrow, and we were able to sail 2 of them today. Wind was good, another knot or two higher and it would have been uncomfortable. It came from the Northeast and was able to fetch down the 15 mi long lake and that made for some nice swells to surf downwind.

The first race was 4 legs, downwind finish, and the second race, to our disbelief, was a 5 legger. sheesh. More upwind practice in breeze, though, I guess. Seems like finishing downwind would have been preferred since that end of the course was near the marina cove, but maybe they had difficulty seeing boat numbers downwind. 

Team Florida is doing well so far, and Team Mad Sails had some good finishes, too. Tomorrow looks to be a little less windy, so that will be nice.

The pups seem to be taking this all in stride. Presently, sleeping on the floor of the RV. Missy found the front seat this morning and she thought she looked pretty cute riding shotgun!

Looking at the weather at home, though....tornado watches, floods, craziness!! Everybody- hunker down!!

The weather here has been nice so far, hopefully they are wrong about the forecast high temps for the end of the week (102-104 deg. yikes!) The campsite area has been really comfortable with nice breeze and shade. (We'd love to post some pics, but technical difficulties prevent it at this time - isn't that always the case. Thought we had it worked out since the change to Apple-ness. Come back to the site after we get home, we'll see if we can figure it out!) The marina parking lot, on the other hand, where the boats are is quite a bit like Africa-hot. After racing we were happy to get back to the coolness of AC and shade.  Dinner plans include some chicken on the barbee, yum.

Still no pics.

NAC 2012 Pre Regatta Prep

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Measurement Day 1, arrived early, received our assignment, and discovered that yellow is bad. There were 3 randomly assigned colors to organize measurement, and yellow includes weighing the hull and measuring the centerboard. We were yellow... and bummed.
3rd to the hoist to be weighed, CB didn't quite make it, but Dave had the forethought to ask Harry to bring a new board and we made quick work of switching out and we were done. Other competitors began to arrive and it was a neat reunion time.

The club offered brat night for dinner and the beer trailer opened early. Nice beer trailer ... 4 selections to choose from! Dog walking and biking to the bath houses for showers  in the dark, and all asleep at a reasonable hour. We seem to be settling  in to a pattern of early to bed and early to rise, guess it is an RV thing. 

Sunday, June 24, 2012

We still needed to measure our sails to complete registration, soooo, after a morning walk with the beasts, and a run for Wake and Kim, it was on the bikes for the ride to the club. We are very appreciative for the bikes, the location here, requires them if there are no 4 wheeled vehicles for transport. The campground is large and it even doesn't make sense to shower at the bath houses because you work up a sweat riding back to camp!  sheesh!

Finished measurement, adjusted a few things on the boat, and returned to let the dogs out and grab some lunch at the RV. The wind came up this afternoon, and we decided to do some practice and tuning, unfortunately, the wind died. Team Hobbs from Tampa won the Junior Championship and friends Melanie Dunham and Carrie Carpenter won the Women's Championship. We all came in,  and got ready for dinner back at the club including awards. Back to camp walk with the animals, and sleep. Gotta be ready for tomorrow!!! First day of racing, Qualifying rounds. 
Skippers meeting 9:30 with first start at 10:30. Out.

P.S. We are unable to upload pictures, hope to figure that out.

NAC 2012 - Getting There

10:00 Wednesday, July 30, 2012

Take off!  So many things to prepare! Kim was able to get out of work, thanks to her fine coworkers, and we were able to get on the road earlier than expected. Puppies have known for a while that something was in the works, and today, their excitement level peaked.

Our goal today was to drive north of the FL state line to avoid high traffic times in Atlanta and Nashville tomorrow. We figured if we got within 2 hours of Atlanta we could try to start the next morning and be just after the morning rush. That would also allow us to hit Nashville around 3:00pm and beat the afternoon rush. So that was the plan.

The dogs surprised us upon entering the RV. Lexi, the less outgoing one, usually seeks refuge under the dinette table, and Missy, the navigator, likes to sit between us and is on the alert watching the action through the front window. Today, Lexi scooted to Missy's spot in the front, and Missy established herself under the table. Missy quickly figured out something was off, stepped over Lexi, sat on her, and encouraged her to take a back seat. Lexi caught the drift and all was well.

We occupied our time with the third installment of the Hunger Games series, The Mockingjay, Almost done! They go quickly, interesting stuff, not exactly cheery but interesting.

4:00 Arrival! first stop, Twin Oaks Campground in Elko, GA. Only 1/10 mi off the highway, EZ on, EZ off! More than just convenient, Dave did some research pre-trip, and this came highly recommended on the RV and camping sites. Even better, Dave joined a camping club called Passport America (and we highly recommend this to all the RVers) and we get 1/2 price on the site! this place has a pool, hot tub, dog walk and a fenced in run. Missy says, "Tennis ball!"

After experiencing the pool and dog walk area, we found very few Mosquitos, but a whole lot of gnats. No biggie. A lovely evening with a nice breeze, and way better than overnighting in a Walmart of Truck stop where we would need to run the generator to power the AC.

Day 2 of travel, 6/21/12

The girls were very good last night (much better than on a "trial" sleepover in the RV last week), only woke up a couple of times, ready for the next adventure. When we finally did wake up, they were calm, patiently waiting for Kim to tie up her shoes.

The park has a 1/4mi loop, just like a track! the girls took Kim for a 3/4mi training run--wheeee! With frequent sniffing stops, so many new scents since many campers seem to travel with their dogs.

Can't believe while writing all this, Kim forgot to feed the girls this am. 
She remembered around 10:00 while fixing herself a snack. Very wrong!!

Oops! The license plate is coming loose from the trailer as we are passing through Atlanta. It's really one of the only parts of the trailer we can see in the rear view mirror from the RV. It is dangling down a bit and possibly dragging a corner but the traffic is thick but moving so we are not stopping. The idea of effecting a roadside repair with a million trucks passing seems really stupid, plus how much could a new plate cost? We consult the map and find the next rest stop is 20 miles northwest of town and decide we will stop there, the plate will be there, or it won't. Finished Mockingjay, phew! got a little emotional toward the end. (Read; Kim is crying alot and I hate it when that happens) Now, on to something a little more lighthearted and fun...Tim Dorsey? Carl Hiaasen?

Seen on a license plate : BLESSD, like.

Around 10:40, we're past Atlanta- unscathed.
Rest stop just past exit 306, the plate is still there so we replace a bolt do a little dog walk and were off.

12:45 Into and out of TN/GA. Hwy 24 is a little schizophrenic near Chattanooga. Had us concerned for a moment that we were going the wrong way. Ah, there we go, back into TN and the Central time zone. Fun! An extra hour we weren't counting on this would help our plan for getting through Nashville. It had been a while since I passed through here and I forgot how mant times you have to exit right or exit left to continue on I-24. We were going good and almost through when we spot the sign stay left for I-24 while we are in the extreme right lane. Ugh. So we try to tuck in behing 18 wheeler guy but little car guy won't let us in. With RV and trailer were are about 55 feet so a bit of room is needed. With time running out Dave decides to gun it and we pass 18 wheeler guy and another car and cross 3 lanes of traffic to just make our left exit. You don't see too many RV'ers trying moves like that and for good reason.

2:45 Central time
crossing state line into KY. Puppies are sleeping, even over the rough roads.
After a little research, we decided on a campground just to the NW of the Land Between the Lakes National Rec. area in KY. It's a little east of Paducah which probably means absolutely nothing to you but we thought that was a fun name so had to work it in.Still a lot of daylight left to set up, catch a swim in the pool, take care of the pups. That leaves only a few hours left for tomorrow.

So the Nashville Atlanta plan worked like a charm, gotta love that.

4:00pm Central time
Fill up with gas and stop for the night at Cypress Lakes RV park in Calvert City, KY. We are in the pool and the cocktails by 5:00pm and thinking that this is a fine way to travel.

Day 3, Friday 6/22/12
Short drive to Carlyle. Departing Cypress Lake Campground. Some thoughts...bathrooms: seen better, pool bath reminds us of the beach baths on Dunedin causeway en route to Honeymoon Island. Kim has noticed she appreciates hand soap and paper towels at the bathroom sinks.
Met some nice folks, lots of full-timers there. Interesting  site. Gary Yamamoto's custom bait was adventurous and impressive. Huge advertisement wrap (will have to go to baits.com when we have a chance) on a trailer towing a double decker boat/car trailer. Watched him load up this am, a one man show with a power boat and a 4-Runner below. Hooked everything up and was out in less than an hour. He had done this before!

Decided on Janet Evanovitch, we're up to Explosive 18...amazing how many books can be written about a bumbling bounty hunter. Nice brain candy after the seriousness of Hunger Games.

Missy couldn't be any closer to Dave. Wish I could take a picture, but it would be too dark. She's practically in the footwell. Guess she didn't mind being in the hottest place in the cab, she decided to lie on the floor right above the transmission which gets pretty hot.

Seen on the back of a car being towed.. "Be patient, I'm pushing this big RV!" Think this would be fun on the back of the Flying Scot.

Road to CarlyleRte 127 from south-all kinds of farmland around. Apparently these folks specialize in corn, dabble in soybeans and try their hand at something that resembles corn but not quite. May have to stop and ask...

Walmart stop before campground, Carlyle is a small town with a crowded, but clean and fairly new Walmart. 1/2 hr in the store, and no "Walmartians" were spotted this must be a world record. We notice a white truck towing a Scot leaving the store parking lot. After a few minutes, we caught up at the sailing center, and said hey to Henry Picco!

Dropped the boat off with help from the lovely Harbormaster, Mary. Team Taylor right behind us, with Team Hobbs not too far behind. 

Notice another boat across from ours in the parking lot with a Masthead Enterprises top cover. Could it be? Team 4925? Jeff and Amy had been dealing with some deferred maintainence on their RV which delayed the departure. They got everything straightened out, and drove straight through. Hard Core.

We're in campsite spot Lucky #7, hope that works out for us! Sho'nuff, the Chalet and her inhabitants look settled in. By 2:00, we're getting settled in our spot.

Get a new Flying Scot for the NAC

Dreaming of a new boat for the North Americans this June? Flying Scot builder Harry Carpenter is offering a once-in-a-lifetime GROUP DISCOUNT deal!! Check it out. Get your sailing buddies on board and take advantage of this amazing opportunity!

A fresh new Flying Scot like one of these could be yours at a great price.

Package price complete $19,995.00
Package price on two boat group order $17,995.00
Package price on three or more group order $16,995.00

Group Order Discounts for the 2012 NAC June

Free freight to the NAC in Carlyle, IL
These boats will be ready to sail, just add crew!


Flying Scot complete – white deck and hull with no trim stripes, fiberglass centerboard cap
Mad main, jib with AirX spinnaker
Galvanized trailer and tie-down
Mast hinge
Jib sheet cleated on seat with Harken auto ratchet
2:1 jib sheet rig
360 swivel cleat for centerboard
Ronstan X-10 fixed h-o stick
Mainsheet – 5/16 polypro - rigged 2:1 with Harken Carbo blocks
Spinnaker rig and spinnaker pole
Two rings on mast for pole
Spinnaker halyard led aft with take-up reel
Spinnaker guy hooks on deck with cleats at chainplates
Spinnaker sheets – ¼” Ultra-lite - internal system with self-ratchet cheek blocks under seat
Spinnaker turtles on forward seat corners
Outhaul – 6:1 internal wire
Cunningham system led aft to console
Vang – 12:1 cascade purchase led aft to console cleat
Pole lift – 2:1 - led through deck to console cleat
Pole downhaul – shock cord through deck
Mast head fly
Break-away rudder blade hold down pin
Tack-Tick compass and mount
Safety equipment - anchor & line, paddle, cushion, whistle, bucket & chamois
Package price complete $19,995.00
Package price on two boat group order $17,995.00
Package price on three or more group order $16,995.00

Terms – 50% down and the balance on delivery

Sarasota Fleet Racing

Saturday was a red letter day in our fleet history. We had a super day for racing and when the gulf breeze kicked in the winds were in the 12 -15 kt range. Sue and John Damagala ran 3 races and mixed things up with 3 different course configurations. THANK YOU!! Twelve boats sailed out to the starting area and 10 entered the races. We were joined by the Thinels and Lintons from the Tampa fleet. They came down to get some practice in before heading north to the Flying Scot North Americans. Super exciting news for the day and our fleet was having two new fleet members come out for the first time. Both, Andy Lindgren in Over Easy and Mark George in Scot Free Joined us for the first time. Welcome to our fleet!!! On top of the leader board after the 3 races were The Lintons in first, Don & Stu (Leprechan) second and Ron and Richard (Sidewalk Express) in Third.
Our next race date on the calendar is June 9th. Start time is 4:30 out on the course.

Sue and John were kind enough to bring a camera along and took many photos including the great ones below. Some may notice that they are all of Kim and I, a benefit of having your own blog! You will, of course, want to click on them for the full screen view.

As mentioned above the Lintons and Kim and I were wanting to get a little tiller time in advance of the NAC. This proved to be a good idea in our case since we were feeling a little rusty, the Lintons were rust-free as is common.

Gotta love Sarasota Bay!!

NAC 2012 Preview

So the NAC is about 6 weeks away but the early registration discount ends next week, May 20. Looks like we may have a fairly good sized group from Florida but so far only 3 are signed up. Back in the day the discount would have been good for a tank of gas but nowadays... well, never-mind. It'll get ya some beer though!!


The organizers have put together a very nice event website with all kinds of detailed info. We will be staying at the State Park Campground which is also where the sailing facility is located.

For the first time, we will be traveling by RV this year and are looking forward to hanging out with the Lintons and John & John who will also be RV'ing it. We all have spots reserved at the the campgrounds southern end which is close to the sailing center.

Here we have the RV trio, as seen at the Rudder Club in Jacksonville

Our dogs will be attending again this year so that is a highlight, for sure. Missy (the oldest) has been to 2 NAC's already so she is a veteran.

On the way to Ephraim WI for the 2009 NAC we stopped at Flying Scot Inc. for the Sandy Douglass  where Missy got to meet Buffet (like Jimmy), the Carpenter's golden retriever

Missy and Lexi both went to the 2010 NAC at Bay Waveland but like us they may have successfully blocked that one from the memory banks.

Missy and Lexi crashed out in the van on the way home from Bay Waveland,  watching the weather channel all week wiped them out

We think scheduling the regatta in June was a good plan. With some luck it will be before the big heat of summer and after the spring storms die down. Fingers are crossed!

Get your entry in and we will see you there!

In case you won't make it,

we will do updates, maybe even with a new Ipad.

Midwinters 2012, Wrap-up

All in all we had a really good time even with the lousy weather. The RC decided early on both Tuesday and Wednesday, that there would be no racing, so we were free to go play for the day. New Orleans is one of the better places to be if sailing is cancelled and other fun activities are needed.

Of course by the Friday afternoon BBQ and awards ceremony the weather had cleared and it was a little on the warm side. They gave away a million or so door prizes during the week so nearly everyone went home with some loot. Larry Taggert also presented the Allen Douglass Sportsmanship Award to Mark and Maria Benner. You may recall our story in the Day 2 post about the crash on the interstate on the way to NOLA. Well they persevered, sailed well, and won the sportsmanship trophy so things are looking up for them!

Would you like to see race results?

The photos below are from the trip home, from west to east.

Pulling out of SYC on a beautiful Saturday morning, it figures.

The boat houses look a little better with out the gloom.

Rolling along Canal Blvd. before reaching I-10

NOLA looking south from the Interstate

I-10 crossing the eastern end of Lake Ponchatrain

Just after emerging from the Mobile Bay tunnel you have the old warships

Back in Florida and crossing Pensacola Bay

The trip home was smooth and un-eventful and took 10 hours and 10 minutes. This is really not a bad trip at all for those of us in the Tampa Bay area, or nearby. We will plan to return the next time the midwinters is in New Orleans!

Midwinters 2012, Day 4, Friday

HOLY COW!! We finally got some racing in!
3 good races, one marginal race in a dieing breeze.
We were awakened at 4:00am by a horrendous thunder/lightning storm, and more than one of us thought, "Oh, no, here we go again." It cleared up, though, and the parking lot was full of folks either packing up, or getting ready to sail. Most of the boats went out, we thought we would need a tow, but as we cleared the harbor, we discovered we were actually sailing. The RC had a bit of a challenge with the wind, but set a course, and they started our regatta. All races W/L twice around. They lasted slightly less than an hour and the time limit allowed for 4 total. (Half of the regatta in one day!)
The sun came out, it warmed up, we recognized Louisiana again. More later.

Zak and Sarah Fanberg receiving their first place awards from Diane Kampf and Wallace  Paletou (PRO)

Some of the leaders heading down

Here we are after passing Zak and closing in on the finish line.

 The finish! We got third which was our best race.

Midwinters 2012, Day 3, Thursday

Our hosts, Ruby and Peter offered to make breakfast early today to accommodate the racing schedule that was set to start an hour early in effort to get a race off today.

Optimistically, we rose early, dressed for sailing (for the first time) and arrived at the club ready to race. Pessimistically, the view form the predictors of the weather had something else in mind.

We did a lot of sitting around. Southern YC has a lovely fitness center where we can work off some of our pent up racing energy.

Thanks to John Aras for lunch at the club. Dave and I would never have ordered turtle soup, but goodness, it was good!!!

1:00-ish..race committee held a vote to determine whether we should go out and try for a race this afternoon. Rain, no rain, rain, it went on...
We at least went out on the boats, but the wind died, and we returned in time to research the area for dinner spots.

SYC from the point

The boathouses in the harbor

The same boathouses from the street side
The group separated, some stayed at the club, a few to a Hornet's game, some downtown (or uptown), we went to the French Quarter, did the tourist gig, Pat O's for a Hurricane and grub. It started to rain as we left the Quarter, and we ducked into another bar (gosh darn it all), until the rain let up enough for us to "balcony surf" to the parking lot. Ahhh, returned to the comfort of the B&B/home. Blog entry, good night.

Hope to sail tomorrow (is there an echo in here?)or this will become known as the Midwinter Eating Championship.

Midwinters 2012, Day 2, Wednesday

10:00 am Cancelled-thunderstorms, high winds, tornado watch, flood watch. Pretty much covers it.

The lake level is rising toward the "dry sailing" area

The approach to the club is under about a foot of flood water

12:30 Met a bunch of folks at Joey K's a suggestion of Dan Baird's then a tour of his loft before a visit to the WWII Museum.

John Aras took the opportunity to win enough at Harrrah's (casino) to pay for the trip. He is as skilled at Blackjack as he is at sailing.

An incredibly positive plug for the WWII Museum. Don't think there is anything like it anywhere else in the US. Heard that it started as the D-Day Museum, and it was such a great thing that they expanded it to include the entire Pacific and European theaters. As we walked through, a Paratrooper veteran who was sent in prior to the amphibious landing at Omaha Beach introduced himself. We were all speechless. After fully understanding the circumstances, we were completely surprised that he was here, speaking with us.
The Higgins boat was designed by Mr. Andrew Higgins from NOLA. He demonstrated the durability and functionality of the craft here on Lake Pontchatrain. He actually had to present his case more than once to the Administration. Thank goodness they finally saw the benefit of amphibious landings. Dave's uncle and Melanie's grandfather (among many other brave ouls) drove these boats onto these amazing beaches. Anyone visiting this museum should make sure they see the movie associated with it as well.

We saw the movie and collected ourselves in the hour between this and dinner at Southern YC. They prepared crawfish, shrimp and oysters (cooked and raw) southern boil style with potatoes and corn. It was a bit chilly with the wind, but we managed to eat a bunch, then go for ice cream.

Story which we didn't tell earlier. Housemates Mark and Maria Benner had quite an exciting trip from PA to LA. In AL, an injured vehicle was pulled off on the side of the road. Mark saw a pick-up truck advancing on them from their L side, and he would have pulled further to the R, but there was a vehicle in the way. This pick up truck swerved to the L, hitting the Flying Scot in tow, and pushing it into the vehicle on the shoulder, the Scot came off the trailer. Damage all around. Scot sandwich. 81 year old driving the pick-up decided it would be best to run away. On foot. According to M & M this man is known to authorities, and we hope he is brought to justice.

Hope for racing Thursday.

Midwinters 2012, Day 1, Tuesday

Tuesday, March 20 First Day of Racing??????

So far, we're looking at the travel brochures and discussing where to go and what to do UN-related to sailing.
Small craft advisories have been set.
Flood warnings are in effect.
No high profile vehicles or motorcycles allowed on the Lake P. causeway.
All signs leading to no sailing today.

With about 45 min to go before the you-had-better-put-the-boat-in-or-you'll-be-late-to-the-start limit, we finally left the B&B to meet our fate.
Many folks milling about, checking their phones and looking at forecasts, discussing the wind, etc, then we were instructed to organize in one of the meeting rooms around 1000.
First warning signal was to be at 1100.
Since the scheduled post-race Top Gun school will likely not be occurring, the sailmakers and friends did more Tips & Techniques, Q & A (no, Ryan and Paul, NOT "T & A" - ugh, Bourbon Street) related to Scot sailing and what they do on their boats to go fast.

The race organizers are all about Lagniappe- getting more good stuff than you bargained for, (we didn't mean for them to offer so much wind, however) so, they graciously called racing 1/2 hour before they said they would, and raised the flags giving us more time to spend $$ in this unusual place.

Wake and Kim had time for a run (the wind added extra challenge) while Dave made some improvements on the boat. We fortuitously parked the boat near Harry's mobile fix-it shop and he completed some projects with ample supervision.

We met up with Larry and Carrie (local knowledge is key)and house mates and headed out to lunch. Mandina's (since 1932!!) supplied us with grilled and fried shrimp and oyster po boys and gumbo. Excellent. Can't wait to try more culinary specialties of NOLA.

The French Quarter called to us, and we drove to a public parking spot near the Riverwalk and walked, maps in hand, looking every bit the part of a touron, to Jackson Square (Cafe du Monde was packed!!) and surrounding area. The cloudiness made the atmosphere somewhat dreary, kinda funny to have bands playing and folks trying to lure you into beer drinking and other "evening" establishments at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Jackson Square

Mississippi River opposite Jackson Sq.

Canal Street leaving the French Quarter

It started to rain so we bailed, and the phone was running out of power, so we returned to the Rose and plugged in, just in time to make dinner plans with Dan Baird, adding our names to the already long list headed to Cochon's. Hope they're ready! Sounds excellent.

The radar continues to look rather ugly, with scattered rain, thunderstorms but maybe less wind for tomorrow. At least it's not cold (except in the AC!)still close to 80 degrees, with occasional sprinkles.

Midwinters 2012 Southern YC, New Orleans, LA

Sunday, March 18, 2012 Day 1, continued travel

6:00 pm departure from Dunedin, checked in with Facebook, Paul Abdullah posted that Southern YC might not be the safest place for the vehicles. His wallet was stolen, Nancy Claypool's (very expensive) purse was taken after her window was broken, and Bob Neff's vehicle was stolen! Yikes!
Dave asks, "Why are we going there?"

Publix Cubans and Feta pasta salad for dinner...enough for leftover snacking on the way.

Travel observation: They sell Livers and Gizzards in the Chiefland KFC. Thats wrong.

We stopped in Tallahassee (Quincy)showered, and in bed by 11:30, for an early start tomorrow.

Monday, March 19, 2012 Day 2 of travel

Woke up ad 6:00 am, remembered that we gain an hour going West, and slept till 7:00!!
On the road by 8:00.

11:00 am, (Eastern Time)crossed state line into AL, we switched time zones a while back, but to keep track of how long this adventure is, it's easier in one zone. 3 hours so far.
Lion's Game status report: John Corey is educating the FBI on some NYPD common sense and tactics, traveled back in time to the Libyan bombing in 1986.

Noon (Eastern Time) stopped for gas in AL. Note to self: good gas prices, remember this for ride home. Into MS an hour later, yukky potholes, sorry Piggy and trailer! 111 miles to go!!

2:00 pm (Eastern Time)arrival at SYC!! A nice New Orleans welcome, registration went without a hitch, but we noticed a foreboding breeziness present, as we set up the boat. Lots of talk about big breeze in the forecast. Pretty gusty out of the Southeast, a few brave souls tested the wind and the water. That didn't last long, they were back soon. Al Terhune and Andrew Egan led an informal talk about local conditions, expectations, general Scot sailing techniques, etc. while the first keg was tapped.

4:30 pm (into Central time, now) we followed the phone voice to the Rose Manor, what did we do without the electronics speaking to us?? Ruby greeted us and got us settled. The house is beautiful, with larger rooms than we expected, and so comfortable. We are so fortunate! All FS sailors in the 9 room home, the hosts, Peter and Ruby Verhoeven are very sweet and ready to answer any of our questions and eager to share their fine city with us.

6:00 pm Evening event at SYC, cocktail party and buffet for participants. Yummy jambalaya, local sandwiches, muffalettas (it's not a bad word, really!), and a bread pudding that was "the best I ever had" from one happy customer. A really wow Whiskey sauce, 'nuff said. They got em some good chow!

Nancy Claypool led the livliest raffle and give-away ever! She's a natural, good thing she's not shy. Fun AND educational, learned a bit about the local situation and King Larry (Taggert) was MC of the show, actually RC (Regatta Chair)--good times.

Update on the thievery-Bob Neff's truck was found!! Most of the personal items were intact. They apparently had a lot of important paperwork, and Mary's artwork.

Back at the Rose Manor, Harry holding court in the comfy living room, lots of couches, everyone with their respective electronic device (some with two). Up to bed, lots of pillows!

Ruby showed us her desktop, so we can work from this, so much better than the malfunctioning note pad keyboard that usually mires our blogging experience. Later.

Port Charlotte Regatta

Friday, March 16, 2012

Bummer, had to go to work most of the day before leaving Dunedin for Charlotte Harbor YC. Fortunately, we were able to escape Pinellas County (4:00 pm) unscathed by any traffic snafus.
Looking forward to this trip to start the new (older) Nelson DeMille book, The Lion's Game. Heard it was good.

5:00 pm Traffic scan on the phone shows red line coming up in Sarasota. Exit SR 64 was upon us, and we bailed from I-75, we'll try Rte 41 for a while. Able to get back on at University Parkway, unbeknownst to us, what lurked ahead. More traffic. Turned out to be a fender bender, and it took up 2 lanes of the hwy, it just mucked the whole thing up.

It was still light out at 7:00 pm when we arrived at the club, able to plug in, parked next to our favorite RV neighbors, and had beer with the group in the CHYC "Wheel Room" (aka, bar) and then leftovers in the Winnie with Jeff and Amy. Good night!

Saturday, March 17, Happy St Patrick's Day!

Beautiful day, light winds in am. Funny, we heard all predictions last night, everything from from super-windy to drifting conditions forecasted, and it turned out to be jus right.

The first 2 races were in light air and the breeze came in and built for the 3rd race. There was some controversy around the first race initiated by some miscommunication on the RC boat, ahhh, sailboat racing....
L-2, W-2, it's all the same, isn't it?

Really sweet facilities at the CHYC, and we cleaned up, got ready for dinner. Martin and the volunteers and employees did an excellent job taking care of us. Corned beef and cabbage, in true St. Patrick's style, The group got their green on for the evening's festivities, and tried not to look too conspicuous watching the regulars wander in for the YC party.
Early night, sleepy and full.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

More beautiful weather Sunday so we sailed two more races, the second one being a longish five legger in a nice breeze. Try as we might, the group could not reel in Team Linton, Congrats to them for the victory!! Chris Morgan finished second and we were third.

This regatta was the last in the series of six, completeing another great Florida District Championship. Congradulations to Paul Abdullah who took top honors by winning three regattas in a row!! Nice job. Second were Jeff and Amy Linton, Jim Egan and Chris Morgan rounded out the top four trophy spots. We had great attendance this year and look for more of the same next year.

We know March Madness for some people has something to do with basketball, but we are fashioning our own form of craziness this weekend. We sailed today, finished our State Series, visited with Mom and Dad who drove to the West Coast for the weekend, turned over the Governorship to Mark Taylor and hit the road! Must get to NOLA by Monday afternoon. We'll see how far we get tonight.

Sadly, we had to detour to Dunedin to switch out the Pig Rig for the Oddity (Honda van). No camping at Southern YC, but we're looking forward to staying with great folks at the Rose Manor. This added a bit of time to the already kinda long trip.

After awards and good-byes, we were on the road by 3:15, home and re-packed and off again by 6:00 pm. Eyelids started getting heavy and we stopped a little west of Tallahassee, small town called Quincy, but a really nice Best Western had a lovely bed.

Seat Flotation Installation

I recently sold a used Flying Scot and found that some of the underseat flotation was missing. This has been a topic of discussion in the past, so I thought about doing a little "how to" for this project.

The first thing I did was get the foam which I found from a local guy who sells packing materials. I would have bought it from Harry but the shipping to Florida would have been pricey, probably as much or more $ than the foam. The first step was to sand the areas on the hull and seat where the fiberglass strips would go, 40 grit on the orbital sander makes quick ( but itchy) work of it.

The next step is to cut some pieces of fiberglass cloth to the same width as the foam blocks, about 11 inches. Then lay them out flat and wet them out with epoxy and let cure.

The glass strips cut to size, the six on the right have cured and are rigid

The reason for this step is you will be working upside down. When the floatation is added at the factory the boat is upside down, so the glass just lays on the underside of the foam and seat, so gravity is helping. With the boat right side up, gravity is working against you, it will be much easier to have these pieces made up and rigid.

Now you fit the foam blocks and prop them in place, then add the 11 inch glass strips you already made up.

I used small tree branches to hold them up and paint stirrers to keep from poking holes in the foam. The branches were convenient to easily cut to size with pruners. Wedge the branches to the hull where the balsa core lip is and they will stay put. You can also see (in the pic above) the cured glass strips are in place and held with masking tape. Now you can get ready to glass them in.

Get some wax paper from your kitchen, ask the wife where it is, she has it. Cut the wax paper to a size just larger than the strips of cloth. One piece for every strip, as shown below. This is a huge help to keep things neat and the cursing to a minimum.

The glass strips cut to size and with wax paper between each one

Now you can wet a strip working right side up being somewhat careful not to be sloppy and go off the edges of the wax paper. I was using West System epoxy, and the can of hardener I had was old, which makes it turn brown. It still works fine but it is not clear like it is when new, no worries.

A piece wetted out and ready to apply, note the approximate overlap of wax paper

Pick up the wetted out cloth using the wax paper and put it in place bridging the cured strips and hull or seat whichever one you start with. You should be able to do this step w/o getting epoxy on your hands if you are somewhat careful. It is easy to press it in place a little by hand then use some masking tape to hold it in place.

A pic of one strip where it is held to the under side of the seat

Between the wax paper and several strips of tape there is no mess and it is easy to apply some pressure to get a good bond. I used a roller to work out any air pockets and apply uniform pressure but it could be done by hand as well.

Here is a completed section in the curing process

This was the stuff I used

The appropriate lubricant, should have been step 1, I guess

The next day I removed the sticks and masking tape and took this last picture. Since the hardener I used in the epoxy was dark brown it may be nice to paint over the areas on the hull to make it blend in a little bit. These areas are not easily seen though, so I will leave as is, plus it's custom!