May 24, 2010

This weekend I did a really dumb thing. You can't come off three 1/2 days without eating and in bed and go out and wrestle a catamaran in the "Life on the Edge" regatta. I have not sailed a multihull since this race last year and have not been at the helm of any craft since last summer. I was lucky enough to recruit Amber, a SPYteam member, to crew for me. She has very limited sailing experience and had never been on a cat but she was game. We bundled up in all of our downhill ski clothes and then laughed that we had not brought our ski helmets and goggles when the whiteout hail started. If you think a cat trampoline is slick, try adding a coating of hail. It was cold and the wind came from all quadrants as different storm cells hit. It rained so hard we did not have any tell-tails to know where the wind was coming from. The fully battened sails were no help. But we made it around the buoys even if we did throw in way to many tacks for cat racing.

The weather people said was going to be warmer with a high forming Sunday. It was 39 degrees when we were rigging boats but the sun was out and the winds were still just moderate. The high would mean even less wind. There is no place to store anything on this boat. Not wanting to get too hot, we opted for one less layer of pollypro. Launching the boat was the last we saw of the sun or any warmth. In sailing terms "it blew stink". Like the day before, each storm cell brought wind in another direction but this time it was WIND and primarily from the long axis of the lake so there were also large waves. The waves hitting the boat soaked us as did those splashing up through the trampoline. We were quickly soaked to the skin. The rain was meaningless. We made it around the buoys the first race but halfway through the second race, with the wind building even more, we bagged it as did other boats. Normally flying a cat in winds like that is a blast but being weak from illness and being numbing cold, the thrill wasn't worth it. I'll just have to wait for a nice windy summer day to take Amber out for a wild sail.

Today I finally got a picture of all four dogs sitting - not an easy task when you are alone and holding the string cheese.

Meet: Cedar, Willy, McKenzie and Koyuk