Another Amazing Dinner, No Races

Porch off the bar

This morning I was appreciating that the Bay Waveland Yacht Club has a perfect design. You can sit up on the second floor in the bar and see the whole bay, from the bridge to the horizon. So here we sit in the clubhouse, even 30 minutes before the racing is scheduled to begin, because we can all see the breeze. When we see it coming in from the bridge, we all leave the bar and head for our boats!

 That is precisely what happened this morning. The expected breeze came in at about 12:15 and we all headed out. It was going to be a gorgeous day. We had one race to do. I did notice some clouds to the north and east of us. The race committee was keeping an eye on them and was confident that once the clouds passed, the wind would settle into the expected direction and we'd be all set.

Before that happened, however, the rain started coming down in buckets. No problem, kept us cool ... Then we heard thunder...The wind picked up. We started heading toward the harbor.  The signal boat asked the race committee if they had sent us in. Race committee said no. Boats continued to head for the harbor. More thunder, plenty of lightning. Almost all of us came in and headed for cover. We did notice several boats who stayed out through the whole storm. Some took their sails down and anchored.

Racing back to shore just ahead of the downpour.

Mark and Michelle Taylor (below) were among those who stayed out, but finally the race committee asked everyone to come on in. And eventually everyone gave up waiting for the storm cells to all pass by and pulled their boats. By 3:30 or so they blew the horn and everyone cheered! 

Mark said, "I brought her out across the lake to teach her the procedure." She said, "yeah, the procedure for death!"

Check out this gorgeous green heron

Later in the afternoon we had a really productive open forum, with many people weighing in with all kinds of great ideas to keep the Flying Scot Association strong. It was especially fun to hear from people relatively new to the class, like Tom and John McNally (from Florida) and Chris Powers (San Antonio).

Tonight we had another incredible dinner, BBQ this time, at the club. I wish I'd taken a photo. I know we come mostly to sail, but I sure have been enjoying the food! Tomorrow we go to Tripani's, a great seafood restaurant. But before that we'll have some great sailing!!