Great 48, Lake Norman YC, 2013

Thursday, May 2, 2013
We started our trip a little later in the day than usual, since Kim had her only day of Sunfish racing in this Spring series today! The weather has been mostly uncooperative these past few months (a theme we will see repeated this weekend). Up to now, the forecast for Lake Norman is beautiful for the weekend, we're looking forward to a change from the rain and gray skies we've been experiencing in FL this week.
Since we couldn't Priceline a good deal in the Charlotte area, we decided to RV it and it seems like we haven't blogged in a long time.
Ryan planned to arrive at LNYC early in the day, Friday, we hope to meet him for some warmup/tuneup.
Much like the week we've had, there was rain during the entire drive to St Mary's GA. where we stopped for the night at a lovely (although it was difficult to tell through the raindrops) RV park. Nice owners on site invited us back for Sunday's potluck dinner (every weekend, and they have a crowded table for Thanksgiving, too). They have owned the land since 1984 and began work on it, clearing 5 sites to start, in 2006. A Big Wheel RV Park was born with large, level cement pads, big showers/bathrooms, with everything you need. Even with the never ending rain the night is going by quickly! We see a low of 65 deg predicted for tonight, and the Rays vs KC game is postponed due to SNOW??! It could be worse!!

Friday

After misjudging the time needed to drive here when speaking with Ryan, we arrive at LNYC around 3:30. Sadly, a little too late to sail, and probably in the best conditions we'll have all weekend. We finished setting up the boat and establishing our choice parking spot for the weekend, saw some good folks and volunteers fed us three different types of chili for dinner. Wondering the wisdom of eating a bunch of chili before racing, but we appreciate the great job the volunteers do at this club.
It was a brisk and chilly (ha! A pun) walk back to the lee side of the cove, NE wind, it made us appreciate our choice of parking spot. Racing starts at 1:00 on Saturday, hope the wind moderates a little and the sun can make an appearance.

Saturday am
42 boats registered, the forecast has changed dramatically from the before- travel sun and light winds to increased wind, rain, and cooler temps. Worse conditions for Sunday. The RC was optimistic at the skipper's meeting, and more than 1/2 of the registered boats went out to start. After a short postponement, the first race was underway. We were a little surprised that waves had a chance to develop in the lake, and after the start, we ended up coming in after Kim decided she was nervous about sailing downwind. The water was fresh and cold. About 10 other boats decided to come in, as well. The RC lengthened the course for the next two races, and while we were out putting gas in the RV so the generator could run, they had finished the 2nd race and were starting the 3rd 5 leg race of the day.
Paul Abdullah and Alex Krumsieck had 3 bullets for the day,
Steve Shaw and his crew of 2 fine yoots had 3 2nd place finishes
And Harry Carpenter was 3rd for the day.

Saturday night the club hosted a pirate-themed costume party, served yummy BBQ, and we watched the wind pick up even more on the flags outside the club. It was nice to be inside the warm building catching up with friends, Sandy Eustis made a special toast to Charlie Fowler, Ben and Deb had a good day, Chris and Tom discussed their travel plans to France, and John Kreidler would like it to be known that he has never been to a strip club. Maybe it should be narrowed down to a strip club in FL.

Sunday am
Most of the tents on the windward side of the cove were gone by morning...blown away??!! There was a little rain during the early am hours, but not the amount we saw on the radar, that, thankfully swept to our west, or dissipated before arriving. At breakfast, RC announced it would be running some races. A 9:30 start was scheduled, but at 50 minutes till warning signal, only 2 boats were in the water. Only 2 boats on the club side of the cove had their masts up. The sailors were speaking, was the RC listening? After a postponement, and little interest from the racers racing was called for the day, and Saturdays results were final.

Congrats to Paul and Alex!!!

Harry will be taking our boat back to the Homeland for some work, and we'll be seeing the new and improved Piggy at NACs!
We were able to get on the road by 10:30, and, why should it be any different, Dave had to drive through rain till GA.
Quote of the day, "Is that blue sky ahead or some other shade of cloud? As we approach the GA state line and the wall of clouds and rain we are in comes to a very abrupt end.

So hear we are back at A Big Wheel... We arrived in time for the Sunday potluck, cookies on a plate will have to do for our contribution, since we missed the cooking of the main course. Thanks, Karen

Flying Scot Midwinters 2013, Day 4

Well this is it, the last day. The forecast is for a nearly perfect day, sunny and about 10 knots from the NE. Of course the weather will improve as the regatta wraps up, it seems that has become some sort of Midwinter law. It goes something like this, schedule the regatta and wait for the inevitable cold front to roll through with big breeze. Done.

The starting time was moved to 10:30 to see if we could catch up a little on races. The breeze was there so we banged out the first race in 50 minutes or so. David Ames had a near horizon job with our old boat, probably the most decisive win of the regatta. Continuing the old boat theme Marshall Pardey won the second race as the sea breeze was trying to fill in. There was some delay in getting a third race going as we waited to see what the wind would do. The 2:00 pm limit was looming, the sea breeze just didn't have enough punch to break through and we called it a day. We did get 5 races for the regatta so all was not lost. Paul Abdullah and his crew Alex were solid in all conditions and won the regatta but a nice margin. Very impressive and big congratulations to them!

It is kind of a shame that we could not have had better weather for the out of towners. Sarasota is an awesome sailing venue, hopefully one of these years the weather will be more cooperative.

John and Susie Domagala did a great job running the regatta as did all the volunteers. John awarded the Allen Douglas sportsmanship award to Mark Taylor who helped many of the competitors with boat tuning and set up. Good job Mark!

Larry Taggart reminded everyone to get the third week of March on the calendar for the 2014 Midwinters at Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans.

The results have been posted on FSSA.com for your viewing pleasure.

P.S. by the time awards were being given there was a solid sea breeze from about 260 or 270. Just the way it goes....