Monday, July 2, 2012

Ah! Summer!

SHIP'S LOG:

The last three days have been brutally hot and humid, far more like August that the end of June and the beginning of July. The good news is that going but for a sail was a wonderful way to cool off. The bad news is that every sail comes to an end.  But so long as I stayed "aboard" the weather was bearable. It was so hot and humid, beach members didn't even show up to use the beach. Evidently a room with an air conditioner was a better option.

The Governor's Regatta was this weekend(Sunday) and there was a lot of hustle and bustle to get everything ready and in place. I worked on the Race committee again this year. Once again, I was "in charge of weather," though why they think I have any more "pull" than anyone else is beyond me, as well as working the "Windward Mark" boat. We almost got shut out of the job as the way the wind was coming, it was better to use an official Government mark(buoy) for the windward mark and for us to set one ourselves.  But after the race started, the wind got flukey and died down quite a bit, so that it was necessary to shorten the race for the Ensign Class, a group of boats onlyy22 feet in length. In the light air they would have had real trouble not just finishing the total course but then they would have really been delayed going the  2 plus miles back to TYC.

It turned out to be good decision to shorten the race for them as about an hour after they got back to the club and all the crews from all the boats were ashore enjoying food and drink, a storm hit.  Lots of thunder! Lots of lightning! Lots of wind! Lots of rain. It would have been nasty and dangerous for the Ensigns, indeed anyone, to have been caught out on the water in that storm. But it was a lot of fun to watch from the safety of the clubhouse ashore!