2013 NAC Wrap up

After spending the night at the Big Wheel Park in St. Mary's GA we had a fairly short trip to Orlando. We were jones'ing big time to see the girls, nothing like seeing them after a week, they practically come out of there skin with excitement. This time was no different except that there was a golden retriever named Sterling in the house that stuck to us like glue. Sterling is five and has just been used to breed and has not had much of a life. Carol thought the 9 days with our two did some good for Sterling, got to see what it is like to be a dog. Cool!

We made it home just before 3 pm, the only traffic we hit was passing through Tampa which is mostly to be expected with the construction. The RV did well after the brake repair done on Saturday. We have to give a plug to Huntersville Ford, they were a pleasure to deal with. We got lucky that we broke down only 2 miles from them, which allowed us to limp to them after the brakes cooled down for a couple hours. We were also fortunate that we did not get them really hot, so we did not damage the bearings, rotors or even the pads.

The folks at LNYC did a fine job with the regatta. Holding an event there during summer is always a little risky due to the high chance for light wind. However, unlike some recent NAC's we got all the races in and the RC did a really good job. We were reminded again why this is one of our favorite venues. I would not have wanted the job of PRO with the weather we had.

The Lintons staged a solid come from behind victory to repeat as NAC champions. This is no small feat considering they needed to overcome Allan Terhunes lead who is a multiple champion himself. Not to mention a bunch of great teams that filled out the rest of the top 10. Way to go Amy and Jeff!!!

John Kreidler is the man! Well most of the time, at least when he is not it he weeds. He was kind enough to stop and offer to help as we waited, stuck on the side of the interstate. It appeared we were going to have to leave the boat behind since the wrecker was unwilling to double tow the RV with the boat attached. He went and found a place off the highway and dropped his boat and came back for ours. In the end we never got a tow, which is a long story but he did take our boat to the Ford dealer. Thanks John, we owe you big time!

Speaking of thanks, we also need to thank Harry Carpenter for his above and beyond assistance with our boat. When we were at LNYC for the Great 48 regatta Harry took our boat back to the factory and left his boat at the club. Our boat had soft side decks that led to a bunch of cracks in the gelcoat around the cockpit. He re-cored the side decks then re gelled the entire deck which turned out excellent. That is an unpleasant enough job that I would have put it off probably forever. After doing these and a few other repairs Harry brought the boat to LNYC for us to sail at the NAC. That is some awesome service! If your boat needs some fixin give Harry a call.

That's it for now, our future event plans may include a trip to Fishing Bay YC for their annual regatta in August. Next year the NAC is in Toms River NJ, like last time we will probably skip that one but we will see. Planning to visit New Orleans in March for the 2014 Midwinters.

Thanks for reading.