First Regatta of the Season

This weekend was the first of 3 regattas hosted annually on home turf. The Southeast Regional Championship was attended by 40+ scow crazed sailors in varying conditions throughout the weekend.

As my 2nd year in the scow I am finally starting to get my bearings and slowly (read extremely slowly) move up the ranks. The regatta consisted of 5 races total, 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. It is unusual for us to get in the prescribed number of races at Eustis but this weekend we were successful in doing so. After Saturdays 3 races I was tied for 11th with good friend Dave Moorhouse. I was consistently moving up throughout the day with a 20th, 15th, and 11th. Feeling good about the day I did what most sailors do after a tough day of racing...party!

Sunday started out with great wind for the first race and declining wind down to almost nothing for the final race. My race finishes were a 30th (egads!) and a 20th. The 20th place finish in the last race was miracle since I was in almost dead last around the first windward mark. Many of the boats went out to the right on the first downwind leg and got hung out to dry...thanks guys! By the end of the regatta I was in 17th. Nothing to brag about but a small victory for me. Last year in the same regatta I was in the mid 20's with even fewer boats. After reviewing the results I was not unhappy with the placement due to the caliber of sailors ahead of me.

While the racing was great, the highlight of the weekend had to be watching David Moring drift away from dock only to realize his pirate flag had jammed up his halyard...think long rope to raise the sail. David then did the unthinkable. He dropped his mast on the water without assistance, jumped in the water and then freed the jammed halyard. Then with some assistance raised his mast and sailed off to the course. Nice work David, I can think of 20 easier ways to handle the same problem but none with that kind of panache!

Zack Clayton of Quantum Sails took the overall victory with National Champ Jamie Kimbell of Melges Boatworks in 2nd. Close friend and Lake Eustis's own David Morning took 3rd.

Back to the grind

Despite the weather being less than stellar and the fact that I backed out of what was to be my first triathlon I have to say that I had a stellar weekend. I got to spend a lot of time with my beautiful wife and even a little hydro therapy.
A walk down memory lane had Mari and I reenacting our first date which meant an evening at the local bowling alley. Some how my memory failed me in remembering that she kicked my butt the first time we bowled and the same was to happen this time around as well. I think I must have let her win the first time to make her feel good but not the case this time around. All right I can't lie, I am a terrible bowler and my wife may have a future in the WPBA. Good times at any rate.
Saturday we headed out to the lake for a little time on the water...for me anyways. It was an absolute perfect sail with the winds clocking in around 8-10 knots with some stronger gust. Five others from the club setup buoys for some quick practice in preparation for our upcoming regatta. I ignored about half the practice as I was having way to much fun blasting speed runs back and forth across the lake to want to spoil the fun by mock racing. I later joined in and had just as much fun as everyone piled up at the mark roundings to make for an ideal regatta situation. Last minute maneuvering was the order of the day for avoiding collisions...high on the fun meter. Once the rest of the gang headed in I stayed out for another run at the MC Scow speed record...probably not even close but enough to bury a Catalina 22 out cruising around. It was a struggle to slow my boat down enough to match his speed for a quick conversation.
Sunday we headed over to Cocoa to view a windsurfing wave competition which never happened since those guys need a steady 15 knots of air to even consider heading out. Just as well we got spend a little time at the beach and time together.

Weekend warrior

What did you do this weekend? This is usually the monday morning topic of discussion around the water cooler at most peoples place of employment. Since my employment finds me flying solo plying the roads of Florida, I get to share my weekend endeavors on the blog.
To sum up my weekend throw in a dash of road cycling up and down the hills of Mt Dora and Eustis, add a couple of hours in the hiking strap while attempting to act like a sailboat racer, and just for good measure try windsurfing while a lunatic power boater circles around creating a swirling vortex the Flying Walinda's would have trouble negotiating and you have a good idea of my weekend.
The bike ride was probably one of the most pleasant rides I have taken in Florida in a long time. I rode along the back side of Eustis over into Mt Dora past several lake sides on calm roads. I wasn't sure you could ride in Florida anymore without dealing with a greal deal of traffic. Once in Mt Dora I stopped by the Chamber of Commerce where they were nice enough to give me several maps of local ride routes.
Did I mention that I have signed up for a triathlon at the end of the month? I needed something to motivate me to get back in shape. More on this later...back to the weekend.
Saturday and Sunday are race day on the boat. Really this is just a good excuse to get together with friends, drink to much and eat to many oysters. Racing for me this weekend was a little disappointing as far as results go. I took a fifth in the first of four races and found myself at the back of the pack in the remaining races. One race of note saw the winds build to a range that I struggle with. In this race I was with the pack on the first 2 legs. At the leeward mark rounding I buried the bow of the boat in deep into the back of the wave. This is trait of the flat bowed scows that I race. Once the bow buries itself in all you can do is hang on for the ride. As the bow goes deep the stern raises out of the water rendering the rudder useless...again hang on for the ride. I was at least 200 feet past the mark by the time I regained control (relative term). Once under control the rest of the fleet was well up the course and my race was over. Oh well, I caught some fun rides surfing down the back of waves and popping onto a plane briefly.

Meaningless dribble

I often wonder if it is clinically possible to be afflicted with both OCD and ADD at the same time. If it is then I believe that I have both. Yes, I know that they are both treatable diseases but I find it entertaining even if no one else does. For example my OCD will not allow me to go to sleep with the closet door open however my ADD allows me to ignore the pile of clothing I have to step across just to get to the closet door and close it. I am sure my wife could point to several other examples of my often bizarre behavior that I am not even aware of.
Now my ADD is blatantly more significant and obvious than my OCD. This is quite apparent in number of hobbies that I seem to bounce back and forth between. And, as I am writing this my ADD has me looking for...

Athens or bust!

Mari and I took off for Athens Ga. last Thursday to see our good friends Dave and Melissa tie the knot. Little did we know what waited for us just down the road. Twenty minutes out of Orlando it became quite obvious that it was not going to be a fun drive. Never mind the fact that I had just spent 4 hours in car from Naples to Orlando only to pick Mari up and continue north to the great state of Georgia.
Most of you know that I spend a lot of time in my truck. I have driven through all kinds of weather, been held up by rubber necking onlookers, and suffered numerous flat tires and dead batteries. With all of this mind, I have to say that the thunder storms we drove through were the absolute worst I have ever driven through. We later found out that the storm spawned numerous tornadoes in the area and damaged parts of my home away from home, Eustis. We found this little tid bit out the next day from watching the Today Show. Numerous phone calls quickly followed to make certain that our friends and my boat stored in Eustis were all OK. Thankfully all survived and Mari and I were once again on our way to Athens.
Once in Athens, we quickly found lunch and mounted up on the bikes to tour the town. We were both hoping to find a traffic free area to log some miles but instead wound up riding in circles around the UGA campus in search of flat land. Mari is still new to the whole biking deal and the hills were a bit of a shock but I am proud of her for forging ahead. As we were travelling around campus, I was trying to relay our intended path to Mari in order to give her plenty of time to choose a safe path. At one point I mentioned that we head up a path "where all of the kids are walking down". Immediately following this comment I realized that I am in fact getting old. Since when did college students become in my mind "kids". We had a good laugh over this.
Later in the evening we joined our friends for drinks and a concert at the Georgia theater where I was again reminded of my ever increasing age.
Saturday brought Dave and Melissa's wedding and great day! Their wedding was held in a beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright-ish chapel nestled in the local botanical gardens. The wedding was a casual affair as the two exchanged their self written vows. I swear if Dave ever makes me teary eyed like that again there will be trouble. All kidding aside it was one of the nicest weddings I have ever been too.
Sunday Mari and I headed for Savannah for a little more R&R. We toured the historic areas by bike and walked the Factor's walk area and just generally took the sites in. We are both anxious to return to Savannah when we have a little more time to really take in the sites.