Sunday, December 8, 2013
Gator bowl 2013, Jacksonville
So we left on Friday, around 11:00 (Kim was able to get the day off even though she's new to her job!), interested to see how much longer it would take to get from the new abode in Bradenton to a rest area landmark where we used to reach the highway from the house in Dunedin, where it took an hour. The new place is really close to the highway, but 50 mi to the south. It took 55 min. Crazy! Good!
We stopped on the way to get gas at the Flying J, where it was cheaper, but it took some time (thanks Gas Buddy, a worthwhile free app), so the whole trip took almost 5 hours, a little longer than usual. Lexi and Missy are along for the weekend! Don't know what the other folks think, but we enjoy having them along. We appreciate the Rudder Club for making accommodations for the RVs and the dogs!
The temperature was great for sleeping outside, the forecast close to 80s during the day and 60s at night. Aside from the highway noise, after a longstanding tradition of dinner at Trent's, we had a nice rest. Jeff and Amy Linton camped I their RV, Mark Taylor bunked with them, his crew, Andy Hayward enjoyed some truck camping, and so did Jamie Fisher (new Scot racer and on his way up to Ohio stopped by to see if anyone needed crew). Tom McNally had a tent. So good to see so many travelers!! Harry Carpenter picked up Bill Ross in NC on the way down from MD, Steve Shaw drove down and met up with Henry Picco, and John Kreidler from Greenville, SC joined Joe Break from the Outer Banks of NC to compete in the Gator Challenge. Way to go, out of towners! Overall, 18 boats raced for the prized Wally Gator who ended up staying in FL since Jeff and Amy, Mark and Andy, and Tom and Mike were 1,3, and 5 out scoring the boats with connections to the Carolina District.
It was quite a light air regatta, Saturday was challenging with one pretty fair race in the dying breeze. During the time spent drifting around between races, the Naval Air Station nearby put on quite an airshow. As Dave says, "Those planes are badass!" Just when we thought the show was over and we would go back to the club, the RC decided there was enough wind for one more race. We would beg to differ, but thankfully the torture, I mean drifter, only lasted 2 legs. Back to the club for cleanup, dog walk, and dinner! Excellent Latin influenced BBQ pork, chicken and brisket with all the extras! Yum!
We were all pretty tired, but stayed up to watch the Auburn/Mizzou game, (wow! Defense anyone?) and tried to start watching the OSU/MSU game, but had to read about it this am, since the club closed before 9:00 pm, Saturday night. Go Sparty!! That was really nice.
Woke up to lots of fog Sunday am, John and Joe went out early in the muck, fortunately, they didn't get lost! We waited a bit too long for the fog to clear, also, expecting the RC to return and let us know things were starting, since they said they would...anyway, we missed the first race...oops!!
Watching is always fun, great to see a different perspective. 2nd race, as yesterday, in wind that kept getting lighter...we had a good start, headed for the L corner, stayed L even longer than Ron! Things were going well, but we went to the wrong gate mark, and, even though the L was looking good again, for a while, some wind came out of the R, giving those on the R a little more pressure at the top of the course. John and Joe came back strong from a situational start, and we just looked for whatever pressure was available to finish. Enough racing for the weekend..it was great to see everyone!
Next stop...Port Charlotte
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Jeff Penfield Regatta, Sarasota Sailing. Squadron
Well, we certainly haven't done much (any) sailing since NAC, and we definitely haven't been blogging about what we HAVE been doing...till now!
This is the Sarasota weekend, State Series #2, The Jeff Penfield Memorial Regatta. State Series #1 in Miami was won by Sarasota's
own, Ron Pletsch!
During any normal summer, we would fleet race in Tampa or Sarasota occasionally, but primarily we would try to keep cool. This summer, we had a ton of rain curtailing some sailing activities, and we decided to do something a little different...Kim applied for a job transfer from Largo Medical Center to Doctors Hospital of Sarasota, instigating a new activity...searching for a new home in the Sarasota area. The start date was scheduled for September, so we were very busy during June, July, August weekends looking at houses, and during the week, scouring the realty websites.
Finally, we found the neighborhood we love, and a house that suited most of our needs. In the meantime, Dave's parents visited for almost 2 months and found a builder and a model they love and are beginning their journey moving from Scottsdale, AZ.
So, we have a contract on a house in Bradenton. Due to some complications on the seller's side, we weren't able to close on the initial set date of Oct. 7. Some lawer-y and judge-type things have to happen, and closing is now set for Nov 15. In the meantime, we closed on the Dunedin house on Fri, Nov. 1, so we had to get our stuff out! We worked out a program with the owners of the next house, and we are storing our stuff in the garage. That big move happened last weekend and Dave had to go through quite a time with the Uhaul folks and some pretty crappy customer service. The initial truck leaked all of it's brake fluid on the driveway (fortunately, NOT on the highway). Several thousand phone calls later, he went to the assigned pick up place for a new truck with Beau (thank goodness he was helping!), and was told they had nothing for him. He went to the place where he picked up the first truck, and they did have a replacement. Then Dave had to progress with unloading and loading. Kim eventually came home, and we did some more loading, moved into the RV, and finished loading on Saturday am. By early afternoon, we were on the road to Bradenton, and unloaded the truck with the help of Beau, Lainie and Marshall. Lainie and Marshall have been a great help through all of this, so has Ron. Our power boat and Sunfish have been at Lainie and Marshall's, Kim stayed there, too, while she started work. (Kim totally made out on the deal. Dave stayed home and did the hard part of packing, while Kim rested at L&M's.) Ron helped store and transport the Scot!!
Dave made a trip down with the van every day this past week with more loads of stuff to empty the house. Thursday, we left the CRV at the Bradenton house, drove to Dunedin in the van, closed Friday am, and Dave drove the RV with Kim following in the van to the Squadron and got ready to race!
Friday night, the Tampa gang arrived and we all had a nice get together near the barbeque area while the Sarasota kids celebrated Halloween in the pavilion. Saturday came bright and early, but maybe not so bright, a storm loomed offshore and we kept watch on the radar while the PHRF fleet from Sarasota Yacht Club and the Scow fleet from here attempted to start races. The Scot fleet was not scheduled to start till 12:30 and calmer heads prevailed and postponement till after the storm was called. Some of the boats from the other fleets made it to their courses, but turned around and came back due to the storm. the Scots made it out to the racecourse and started the first race in very light conditions. Those conditions went from light to drifting, and the race was abandoned. The wind shifted north, the RC changed course, and we sailed 2 races in fairly light air. The cold front went through making for lovely sleeping conditions, and with the extra hour of sleep, we were refreshed and almost ready for the heavier winds today. We sailed 2 races, watched a couple of crew members on other boats go swimming, (great recovery David and PJ!) and one boat capsized, and a couple of boats broke things...The RC adjusted the line since the mark boat was busy with the capsize and we started a third. We were reluctant participants in this one, but off we went.
A successful regatta, with Zeke and Jay Horowitz pulling off 2 spectacular bullets today to win the event, the establishment of a Charlie Fowler Memorial Award, and John and Susan Domagala winning the Jeff Penfield Award in an emotional ceremony. Good job to all the Sarasota volunteers and Bob Twinem Race Chair and Fleet Captain!!
This is the Sarasota weekend, State Series #2, The Jeff Penfield Memorial Regatta. State Series #1 in Miami was won by Sarasota's
own, Ron Pletsch!
During any normal summer, we would fleet race in Tampa or Sarasota occasionally, but primarily we would try to keep cool. This summer, we had a ton of rain curtailing some sailing activities, and we decided to do something a little different...Kim applied for a job transfer from Largo Medical Center to Doctors Hospital of Sarasota, instigating a new activity...searching for a new home in the Sarasota area. The start date was scheduled for September, so we were very busy during June, July, August weekends looking at houses, and during the week, scouring the realty websites.
Finally, we found the neighborhood we love, and a house that suited most of our needs. In the meantime, Dave's parents visited for almost 2 months and found a builder and a model they love and are beginning their journey moving from Scottsdale, AZ.
So, we have a contract on a house in Bradenton. Due to some complications on the seller's side, we weren't able to close on the initial set date of Oct. 7. Some lawer-y and judge-type things have to happen, and closing is now set for Nov 15. In the meantime, we closed on the Dunedin house on Fri, Nov. 1, so we had to get our stuff out! We worked out a program with the owners of the next house, and we are storing our stuff in the garage. That big move happened last weekend and Dave had to go through quite a time with the Uhaul folks and some pretty crappy customer service. The initial truck leaked all of it's brake fluid on the driveway (fortunately, NOT on the highway). Several thousand phone calls later, he went to the assigned pick up place for a new truck with Beau (thank goodness he was helping!), and was told they had nothing for him. He went to the place where he picked up the first truck, and they did have a replacement. Then Dave had to progress with unloading and loading. Kim eventually came home, and we did some more loading, moved into the RV, and finished loading on Saturday am. By early afternoon, we were on the road to Bradenton, and unloaded the truck with the help of Beau, Lainie and Marshall. Lainie and Marshall have been a great help through all of this, so has Ron. Our power boat and Sunfish have been at Lainie and Marshall's, Kim stayed there, too, while she started work. (Kim totally made out on the deal. Dave stayed home and did the hard part of packing, while Kim rested at L&M's.) Ron helped store and transport the Scot!!
Dave made a trip down with the van every day this past week with more loads of stuff to empty the house. Thursday, we left the CRV at the Bradenton house, drove to Dunedin in the van, closed Friday am, and Dave drove the RV with Kim following in the van to the Squadron and got ready to race!
Friday night, the Tampa gang arrived and we all had a nice get together near the barbeque area while the Sarasota kids celebrated Halloween in the pavilion. Saturday came bright and early, but maybe not so bright, a storm loomed offshore and we kept watch on the radar while the PHRF fleet from Sarasota Yacht Club and the Scow fleet from here attempted to start races. The Scot fleet was not scheduled to start till 12:30 and calmer heads prevailed and postponement till after the storm was called. Some of the boats from the other fleets made it to their courses, but turned around and came back due to the storm. the Scots made it out to the racecourse and started the first race in very light conditions. Those conditions went from light to drifting, and the race was abandoned. The wind shifted north, the RC changed course, and we sailed 2 races in fairly light air. The cold front went through making for lovely sleeping conditions, and with the extra hour of sleep, we were refreshed and almost ready for the heavier winds today. We sailed 2 races, watched a couple of crew members on other boats go swimming, (great recovery David and PJ!) and one boat capsized, and a couple of boats broke things...The RC adjusted the line since the mark boat was busy with the capsize and we started a third. We were reluctant participants in this one, but off we went.
A successful regatta, with Zeke and Jay Horowitz pulling off 2 spectacular bullets today to win the event, the establishment of a Charlie Fowler Memorial Award, and John and Susan Domagala winning the Jeff Penfield Award in an emotional ceremony. Good job to all the Sarasota volunteers and Bob Twinem Race Chair and Fleet Captain!!
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