A Day at the Races

There we were, on the first leg of the first race, close hauled on port tack, among the leaders after a nice start, Dave at the tiller, Ross sitting on the cabin top to hike moderately hard. In response to nothing in particular (the wind was steady, the water flat) Ross adjusted his position — only slightly, but enough to lose his balance, fall backwards through the companionway, strike the back of his head on the coaming, and fall to the bottom of the boat, knocked unconscious for just a few seconds.

Ai yi yi! Yet he came to almost right away and answered repeated insistence that we should return to the dock with repeated refusal. He lay there a while and, after we were both satisfied that he had recovered, we went on to…win the race. We were third around the first mark (after our little "moment" led us to overstand it), but passed both boats ahead of us on the downwind leg, and stayed ahead on the second upwind and downwind legs.

Naturally, in the second race I asked Ross whether he would be willing to knock himself unconscious again, since it seemed to work so well for us, and would you believe it? He said no! Whatever happened to taking one for the team? This race, the most he was willing to do was whack his arm hard enough against a bulkhead to raise a lump and, predictably enough, we only came in third. That result had nothing to do, of course, with the helmsman making bizarre decisions on downwind legs.

And so it went. Our worst finishes came when Ross merely cracked a fingernail or almost (but not quite) fell overboard (a fifth, out of ten, in both cases). Once again, of course, the helmsman's tactical decisions and performance could not be faulted.

In the fifth and final race, Ross was kind enough to wrench his knee, and so our performance improved — we finished third once more. And so, a third place finish over all, with no one (permanently) hurt and nothing damaged (except for the other boat in the collision I didn't tell you about, in which of course we were blameless.)

Ah racing!

Tea Party - Raven Riddle

`You should learn not to make personal remarks,' Alice said with some severity; `it's very rude.'

The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?'

`Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud.

`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the March Hare.

`Exactly so,' said Alice.

`Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on.

Wetsuits are for Wimps

Went for my first ocean swim/bodysurfing of 2008 yesterday. Waves were great. Water was a chilly 59. It took me about 10 minutes to get "all in' but it was worth it!

Full Wetsuit Required

http://www.surfline.com/video/video_player/video_player.cfm?id=13885

I'm in the 500 Club!

Click here!

We've worked out the kinks

fluffie has her equipment cooperating and lbilightnin' has found his invites so now we are ready to roll

only .15 miles to go??? oh come on!!!!

because we are also about dogs....

SunfishGirl ! & SunfishBoy ?

Congrats to Sunfishgirl for a great end of the season climb up the ladder to beat msmollin and all those other runners. Let's keep it going in 2008. I have taken up the challenge and logged in my first 1.8 miles yesterday. We are un-officially the MSYC - Crabbing - YankeeSwap - cats & dogs - soccer/football - kilt wearing - Bosox - rummy - surfing and running w/ipod society.

If Tom's not ready

We have Daisy!

Boat Builder races to finish

click on title to read fascinating story...

The Chargers Versus The Greatest Football Team Ever

San Diego Super Chargers

Working at home

How am I supposed to print?


No problem!

Good News

No more verification strings when posting something new!

At Radio City Music Hall: 3-D Glasses!

I've done it; Have you?

I have my renewed ISCA membership card - sail # 80015. It is proof that I have joined over 1900 other sailors in support of the Sunfish Class. Being a member entitles me to race at World Championship events.

While we wait

cher and cher II (aka puffin)

I Want a Million Points!

 

Meet Cathy of Encinitas, California, who tells me she visits LBI every other year. While in California, she adds, she can always tell if a person she meets is from New Jersey by the reaction to her sweat shirt.

Let’s Talk About Sailing

You may recall that back when the fires were raging, Emma and I were evacuated and wound up taking Raven and Nemo on a little “stationary sail.” Here’s what it looks like when dogs are at the helm:

 

But while we rested at port under canine command, I found I liked the boat so much that I had to take it out for some actual sailing. So Ross and I went out last week from San Diego Bay, rounded Point Loma, went out to sea a bit to avoid the kelp beds, then tacked back and forth to fetch the opening to Mission Bay. Didn’t quite make it all the way, but so what, when we spent an entire day that looked like this:

 

Plus we got to make a daring hat-overboard rescue, saw a mysterious wave moving against the swell that may have been the wake of a blue whale but probably wasn’t, drank some beer, and got to wear shorts in November.

We covered a total of about 18 nautical miles CMG (a shiny copper to anyone who can say what that stands for) and returned in darkness (sunset at 16:44, and sailing after dark is a treat in itself). Too slow? Not for my tastes; give me a brisk six knots any time!