We all went to the regatta party and cook out last night at the Lake Winnipesaukee Yacht Club. It was a nice clubhouse right on the lake that felt like summer camp.
Today could be very tough. We are expecting there to be no races after 2pm which leaves enough room for possibly up to four races if everything runs smoothly.
In the end it was another gorgeous day.
We were smooth at silk as a team, still with mediocre results but it still felt good to be on a boat that was really operating smoothly with good communication and executing nice maneuvers.
We forgot one thing however...
Before we left we didn't check the gas in the motor. We came in under sail and since our destination was upwind of us, we decided to motor the last 15 minutes in. The engine died five minutes later and we found ourselves having to sail into the "harbor" (on a lake!) through a very narrow and poorly marked channel that followed a perfectly upwind course. Danger lurked on all sides. This could result in damages in the thousands if we don't play this right.
Its Sunday afternoon and all the power boaters in town are just heading out after having their liquid brunches. Here we come sailing into harbor tacking every twenty feet trying to stay in the channel. About 30 seconds after some power boater hollers to us "You know you're not supposed to be doing that" we hear and feel the boats keel gently come to rest in sand. We are stuck aground and we are blocking the channel. We jump into action and try to lean the boat enough to get the keel off the bottom so we can be pushed to deeper waters. Its not working. We get 225lb and six footer Dave out on the boom, then joined by me and let the mainsheet out suspending us out of the boat and over the water. I'm holding on for dear dryness and for my cellphone in my pocket since we are in the "shallow end" of the pool. We start rocking the boom. It looks like we are dry humping it from underneath. I let my neck relax and can see people forty feet away on shore, standing on lawns and porches, cellphones erect and snapping away. Could this get any crazier!?!
As suddenly as we ran around, we were free again after three grueling minutes of total embarrassment. However we still had about two hundred feet to go before we arrived at the dock. Land at last!
About an hour later, we have the boat disassembled, on a trailer and ready to go back to Mass. What a weekend! I can't believe I have to go sailing tomorrow! LOL
We forgot one thing however...
Before we left we didn't check the gas in the motor. We came in under sail and since our destination was upwind of us, we decided to motor the last 15 minutes in. The engine died five minutes later and we found ourselves having to sail into the "harbor" (on a lake!) through a very narrow and poorly marked channel that followed a perfectly upwind course. Danger lurked on all sides. This could result in damages in the thousands if we don't play this right.
Its Sunday afternoon and all the power boaters in town are just heading out after having their liquid brunches. Here we come sailing into harbor tacking every twenty feet trying to stay in the channel. About 30 seconds after some power boater hollers to us "You know you're not supposed to be doing that" we hear and feel the boats keel gently come to rest in sand. We are stuck aground and we are blocking the channel. We jump into action and try to lean the boat enough to get the keel off the bottom so we can be pushed to deeper waters. Its not working. We get 225lb and six footer Dave out on the boom, then joined by me and let the mainsheet out suspending us out of the boat and over the water. I'm holding on for dear dryness and for my cellphone in my pocket since we are in the "shallow end" of the pool. We start rocking the boom. It looks like we are dry humping it from underneath. I let my neck relax and can see people forty feet away on shore, standing on lawns and porches, cellphones erect and snapping away. Could this get any crazier!?!
As suddenly as we ran around, we were free again after three grueling minutes of total embarrassment. However we still had about two hundred feet to go before we arrived at the dock. Land at last!
About an hour later, we have the boat disassembled, on a trailer and ready to go back to Mass. What a weekend! I can't believe I have to go sailing tomorrow! LOL
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