8-23-14 Racing

by Pam

Saturday was HOT! We had wind mixed with brief moments of little to no wind. Not enough to drive you crazy and make you notice the heat but just enough to mess up your strategy of going left or right. Also enough to make for some close finishes with no one knowing who had what position until the horn went off. The wind also played its favorite trick of bringing the back of the fleet to the front a couple of times which felt like racing in a bigger fleet because it eliminated a lot of the separation. Bottom line … it was kinda fun!

We had about ten boats out with Bruce and Doug both missing the first race. Cathy was back and the rust was showing but she'll be back on track in no time. Burton was having some really good races taking my win in the first race away from me at the very last moment. Paul was having some good races as well and had the only win of the day that wasn't in question in the last leg. Paul also had a Laser sailor friend, Don, join us on one of the fleet boats. Don learned that the Butterfly isn't a Laser but I think we might have challenged him a little bit (he got chicked in every race). Gary, my usual dance partner, beat me twice and continues to push me to get smarter and faster. These old guys have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. Doug was racing a fleet boat that was so heavy he couldn't lift the bow on the docks to check for water and it took both of us to get it back on the docks. I'd say we found the perfect boat to challenge him. He was finishing up towards the front but he wasn't first.

It's no secret that the average age of our fleet is on the senior side. What is interesting to me is that one of the younger members of the fleet returns to the clubhouse for lunch and lies down on the floor trying to relieve back pain. This is for you: