Three Races in Hefty Breeze for First Day of Racing

The regatta started yesterday in lovely conditions. It's sunny and moderate and no matter what happens on the race course, you're just happy to be on the water in a sailboat, especially when it's snowing in various parts of Maryland and the Midwest.

Bronson and Rachel

Also, there are some fabulous photographs being taken and shared on Facebook at 2016 Flying Scot Midwinters. Go there! A picture is worth a thousand words, as the pundits say. Anyway, I'm happy to say that the Midwest District was ably represented yesterday. Mike and Jennifer Faugust had an absolutely stellar day, finishing in second place behind Flying Scot juggernaut Zeke Horowitz and his dad, Jay, by only a few points. Way to go Mike and Jen!

Ben and I, wearing our new glow in the dark Glow shirts,
had a second place finish in the very first race. That felt very very very good!

The view after our first finish

Craig and Rob

And in the Challenger fleet, Randy Adolphs and crew, Chris Zentmyer, are leading the division with consistent finishes of 3, 2 and 2.

Randy Adolphs

Conditions were so good we did three, four-leg, windward-leeward races yesterday. The thinking is to get racing in while the conditions are good. The wind was moderate out of the northwest until just before racing started, when the good old seabreeze came in and we had to wait for the race committee to reset the course. But once that was done the wind was pretty steady all afternoon, building through the races. By the last race the front crew was getting heavily doused as waves broke over the bow frequently. I think there were gusts about 15-18 by the end. Not that I'm complaining, of course! Ben and I wore our excellent neon yellow Glow shirts, courtesy of Eric Bussell. You can see in the photos that Eric is wearing his as well. Say it loud and say it proud, GLOW!

Eric and Gordy

Last night Ben and I went to Hunt's Oyster Bar with Harry Carpenter, Carrie and Tyler Andrews, Carrie Berger, Larry Taggart and John Domagala. We had a ton of fun visiting with them, but it was mostly out in the parking lot because we waited more than 90 minutes for a table! Yikes! After that the food would have to be gold plated to be worth the wait. Still, we had a lovely meal. I especially enjoyed the raw oysters, though I don't think I'll be as dedicated as Larry and Harry in my consumption of them!

Today I imagine we'll do three more races if the conditions hold. It's hard to describe just how gorgeous it is down here. I admit I was skeptical about St. Andrews Bay, but so far I love it!!