Well, Wasn't That Exciting! ! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Yesterday was another hot and humid day, though there was a mild breeze blowing. According to the boys & girls at NOAA, my favorite government institution, there was to be"a 30% chance for rain," something they actually include in every forecast throughout the summer and the breeze would top out at LESS than "10 knots!" This would make for fair racing for the regular Wednesday Night Race at TYC and the various clubs around the area.

Most of the racers at TYC head out to their boats between 5 and 5:30pm as the racing begins for the first class t around 6:15pm give or take. As they headed out last night, there were some clouds about, but nothing that looked particularly threatening, at least not at that time. I got an invite to go out as crew on "GNAT," a complex and very fast racer but had to decline as I was committed to help the steward get the beach front ready for the Force 5 Nationals on Thursday. It turned out to be a good call on my part.

By the time I had finished up with the "beach patrol," a few dark clouds had appeared north of the Club, looking like something out of the of the "Wizard of OZ." Still, it really didn't look all that threatening. But slowly the clouds overcame the sky and the rain gradually crept across the river and the wind picked up. Of course, by this tuiime the races had all started and, since it had been a beautiful day, few if any of the crews were packing rain gear.

And then the rain rally started to come down, the infamous "firehose effect." The wind didn't seem that bad, blustery but not bad. Those of us who were on the porch having dinner, wondered about just how wet the racers were getting. But then the wind picked up some more an really started to gust. The rain increased cutting down the viability.

The first indication something was wrong was when two, count'em 2 Coastie boats went whipping down the river with their lights flash. I went up to the top porch but couldn't see down the river to see where they were going. One of the members had the radar picture on his cell phone and it showed a bad cell right over us and another behind it racing up the Sound. Not could.

Suddenly I notice that one of the boats, "RANDOM NUMBERS" was being towed in by a lobster boat. Something looked wrong but it was only when see passed a much small boat on its mooring that I realized that the mast had snapped off half way. Along with a couple of others, I raced out through the rain to the end of the dock to catch lines and secure her to the dock. Thank goodness no one was hurt. They had been roaring along , well heeled over, with just a jib up when they got hit with a blast . Before they could get the sail down the mast simply snapped, the top half kept on the boat by the wire shrouds. With the shrouds and sail flapping about, they were fortunate that no one got swept overboard. Something got caught in the prop so they had no engine power and were lucky that the nearby lobster boat was able to tow them in.

RANDOM NUMBERS was followed in by RUSTY NAIL who came in with sails down. They had been shoved over on their side and had broached and really hadn't sufficient crew to deal with the unexpected bad weather.

To make matters worse, along with the wind and rain, was the arrival of lightning. It didn't affect the boats to much as they finished the race and went to their moorings but club rules don't allow the launch drivers to operate when there is lightning. As a result, everyone on the boats had to sit tight. It wasn't much of a problem for some but the poor Ensign sailors really took it bad. Ensigns are pretty much "day sailer" and are very open except for a SMALL cuddy cabin. Not a lot of room for the crew and if they were sailing with extra hands, not room for all the crew. As a result, there were a lot of unhappy and very wet sailors, though all were quite relieved that no one had been hurt on RANDOM NUMBERS. Just another fun day in the world of boat ownership