AMIDSHIPS:
Scuttlebutt & Race Yarns

 We tease, embellish and exaggerate, so don't take anything you read here too seriously. Click-able list of prior posts at bottom of port column.

August 10 Race: "So Start Already!"

We were happy to see Peggy Voelz back with us in a race again, crewing for granddaughter Mollie in the Butterfly. Welcome back Peggy!  Meanwhile the sketchy low wind situation had sailors concerned prior to the alleged "start" of the race. Alleged is an adjective used to describe something that is claimed to be true but has not yet been proven or confirmed,

Our Committee Boat volunteers, Margaret Powers, Arlene Truex, Jim Riffle and Nate Schloss did a flawless job on a hot day with very little breeze on the Riffle's pontoon boat (excellently anchored by the way).  Committee Boat Chair Beth Auld did some last minute recruiting after a schedule conflict had arisen, so we appreciate her efforts and the availability of Arlene and Jim on somewhat short notice, and to Phil Bush who would have had he been needed.  To all of them thanks, and also to Dianne Fisher for setting up the course, Arlene for hosting a fun protest meeting,  and Beth Auld and  Kevin Preuss for organizing the race. 

Prior to the alleged start, volunteers heard the  shouts from one boat to another about how to shorten the course due to the lack of wind.  Lifelong sailboat racers Matt and Dianne referred to their mutually preferred option in nautical speak simply as the "windward/leeward course" each immediately knowing exactly what that meant without referring to specific marks. Wait a minute: Wind? Is there wind? What direction? Tom asked for a translation in terms of which marks they meant since the wind was absent or unclear.  "In landlubber's English please!"   And so it went, and a consensus was reached to race to the first mark, then the third mark, and back through the start/finish line, skipping the second mark which appeared to be in a "wind shadow" from the nearby hills. And indeed the first leg would be raced toward the alleged wind, "windward", and the second leg away from the alleged wind, "leeward". A "windward/leeward" course. Of course. 

 Even that shortened course seemed a bit ambitious with the lack of wind as we waited for the alleged start.   And it was. Dianne had set up a fine course appropriate for the better winds that were blowing during set-up, but things had changed.in the couple of hours that had passed.  

When the starting horn was sounded, nothing much happened other than Matt's boat ever so painfully slowly inching along while all other boats sat motionless. Observer from paparazzi boat: "I'm sure I heard the starting horn, why aren't they moving?" Volunteers heard one frustrated sailor shout "I'm going backwards!"And so they sat there bobbing up and down waiting for the slightest breeze.  The slightest breeze only existed in Matt's sails as he approached the first Mark while nothing was happening at the starting line.  He won the race very far ahead from the rest of the fleet that finally achieved a start many minutes later. 

A teaser breeze showed up toward the end of the race, ready to lure the ever hopeful sailors into a second race which they wisely voted against, avoiding a justifiable mutiny by the baking volunteers. 

Sailing, like golf, and certain volunteer opportunities can, at times, be a character building activity. 

Allegedly.

 

Race Results: