End of an Era - Racing 3-18-17

by Pam

Saturday marked the end of an era at White Rock Lake.  Bruce and Frank have officially retired from Butterfly sailing.  Although Frank sold his boat some time back to focus his sailing energy on the Flying Scot, when Bruce recently called it quits, it sort of became the official retirement from Butterfly sailing for both of them.  

We had a small gathering after sailing to honor them but it was sadly inadequate simply because they have done so much.  Bruce and Frank, together with Tom, Gary, Sandy and Burton, are "my guys." I credit Frank with getting me on a Butterfly and Bruce, Tom and Gary with keeping sailing one.  Whatever I needed, they were there.  For me, they are, and will always be, the face of Butterfly sailing and sooo much more.  Frank put me on my first Butterfly and shoved me away from the docks to 'fly' even though I had expected him to sail double-handed with me.  He always made it a point to offer encouragement or instruction when I was near him on the race course.  Bruce has repaired my boat, lent me his, and on the rare occasion when I found myself in front of him on the course, reminded me which way to go and pushed me to get that thing moving and get out of his way.  The two of them were there to help me launch my newly restored 40+ year old Butterfly and they watched as I hit everything in sight trying to get out of the harbor.  I'm sure we'll still see them around but they will be greatly missed on the water.  Thank you both for everything that you have done for me.  You have had a bigger impact than you may realize.

Oddly enough, on this day that Bruce and Frank leave Butterfly sailing, some old familiar faces came out and said they intend to start sailing again (me included).  We even had some new faces that are interested.  Time marches on and it's great but it also sort of sucks.  

Three races today and the weather went from a little overcast to plenty of sun.  We went from a very gentle breeze to nothing with boats looking like they were frozen in place.  Here is a reflection of Cathy in the water.  Kind of cool!

We had 13 boats and John, Sandy and Gary each won a race.  Cathy had a 2 2 3 making her the winner of the day.  Gary had some lousy starts and some impressive comebacks. Here are just a few pictures of the folks sailing.  It's been ages since I posted on the Butterfly site so I'll have to figure out where to upload more pics later.