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.
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.
1 comment:
Ho Boy!
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