THIS IS REALLY SUMMER! ! ! ! ! !

     Boy, the last few days have been spectacular. Low humidity, temps in the 70's, winds perfect for sailing. And while I was able to get a few hours in aboard ABISHAG, much of the time I have spent on the water was driving the launch. I have been filling in for the driver who will be filling in for me when I got off on the TYC Newport Folk Festival-Jazz Festival cruise at the end of the month.

     I forgot how bad it is to be the launch driver on Wednesday evening when we have races. The races start at 6:10pm 17or so boats for them. Figure at least 4 +/- crew per boat and that is 70 or so that have to be taken from the dock to the boats scattered around the mooring field. And  while some of the boats have at least one crew that comes somewhere between 4 & 5 to go out and get their boat ready, most of them show up after 5pm. The launch can only take 11 passengers at a time so it is a pill to get everyone out to their respective boats in time to get the boat ready and to the starting line. I did get everyone out to where they wanted to be in time to get the boasts ready and moving to the starting line but it is a stressful exercise. And it is even worse when the races is over.

     Some boats do well and others do not  and how a boat does naturally effects how the crew feels after the race. Have a bad race, toss in a few post race brews and finding yourselves down on the pick-up list does not improve the situation.  I always pick-up boats in the order in which they call in to be picked-up. The 11 passenger  rule is in effect and there is nothing worse than pulling up to a boat with a large crew and say, "I can only take two!" Usually, the boats finish the race in a rather staggered order which means the pick-up is spread out but this week everyone seemed to show up at once and they all wanted to be the first ones picked-up.  In that it is after the 21st of June, it also means that the sun is setting earlier. This tends to slow down pick-up process even more which makes the bad attitudes in greater, having to sit in the dark on a boat. And when you pick-up the drew off one boat and bypass the boat right next to it, well it don't mke for a happy crew. I am just glad I won't have to do launch raace duty again this year!