first race of the year

[Doug SC]

Wow, I am out of shape!   Yesterday's nautical gymnastics have my upper thighs complaining. I wore gloves but my hands are sore anyway. I did a bit of sailing with the Scamp at the end of February. The winds were light, and I instructed my friend in the art of rowing when it dropped for a while. Yesterday the winds were 12-14 with gust of 24mph. Water temp was 56 F. I'm proud to say we came in second in both races.   I just won't mention there ended up only two boats racing.   We were up against one of our best in the fleet. Yes, several that would have been there backed out for various reasons. It was wet going up wind and the gusts would often come at us from off of the prevailing wind direction. Lots of hiking to keep the boat at prime degree of heel. Lake Murray was rough and being a lake the winds are predictably shifty. What a way to start the sailing season, but I am happy to say this is the first time we have had the honor of being in overall second place.   I am also slowly recovering.