Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day in Sarasota

There was nothing on the schedule this Holiday weekend but a few of us were itching to sail. All week emails were traded but the interest was spotty, until Saturday. Then it looked like 5 or 6 could make it so we decided it was a go.

The weather is getting summer-like except the afternoon thunderstorms have not kicked in yet but it won't be long. It was hot but a steady easterly kept it from being too uncomfortable. A morning easterly this time of year is usually questionable and normally loses out to the sea breaze. We figured this one would fizzle out by early afternoon but you never know. So 5 of us hit the water and it was nice.

We ran the first race across the intercoastal channel using the L mark on the east side of the Sarasota Bay and then finished at I mark in the center of the circle. Jim Egan put a horizon job on us in a big way. The next couple races were started at the I mark and went to B or C I can't remember (couldn't find em anyway!) One dilemma for us has been how to find the leeward mark (especially if you are first) this would be no problem today. We only had to follow the crowd to find our way! We were slow pokes for sure. The two speedsters were Fred and Jim.

We did not seem to have much focus, we forgot the; compass, snug rig sails, spin. pole, camera, can koosie (for the soft drinks of course) and the GPS to find those damn marks.

In case you are wondering the breeze held up all day, it was even whistling through the yard a bit after we returned to shore. Go figure

Since I forgot the camera I thought I would include a shot of my current project