Hello everyone,

Well, today we almost got to race, but in the end Mother Nature said "No!"

I showed up at the pond at 11:30 and expected to see a strong, gusty southwesterly breeze. Instead, I was greeted by hot temperatures, spotty winds, and more kayakers than I have ever seen in my life. The wind never really filled in until some of us hit the water. Jim Hilliard was our RC for the day, and he set the starting line while I got the weather mark positioned. On my way to the line I noticed that some of the puffs were getting strong, but nothing too alarming. I figured we were in for a "normal" jumpy day on the pond. Then a big blast hit me and I almost went over even though the the sail was totally free. I figured what the heck, it's just one puff--not a blowout. Five minutes later the same thing happened to Jack Rickard, and he went over even though he was way out on the rail and his sail was completely free. Jack thinks that the puff hit him abeam and when the boom hit the water the sail had no where else to go but into the drink. Jim did a superb job getting Jack out of the water and then the two of them got Jack's boat up. By this time Cricket and I had conferred and decided that the best way to spend the afternoon was on the dock eating snacks and drinking carbonated malt beverages, so we all headed in. Jack sailed in on his own, sporting the new "Lagoon Look" on his sail and shirt. Nothing like that lagoon mud to spruce up your wardrobe. My thanks to Cottie for bringing the crash boat, Mike for bringing the snacks and beverages, and Jim for being RC. I'm just sorry the wind waited to build until AFTER we got our boats in the water. Too bad--I think we had 9 boats ready to go.

On the dock we all talked about Mother's Day weekend, and the general consensus was that for several of us it would be better to sail on Saturday (May 12) rather than May 13. A lot of folks wanted to start early too, so we will have a 12:00 start on Saturday, May 12. If we get rained out, blown out, or just plain bummed out we can talk about Sunday as a rain date, although I know a lot of folks can't sail that day. Hopefully the weather will start to cooperate as we have only had one day of racing out of 4 so far this spring.

Hope to see you next Sunday!

Jon