Another Beer Can

Well, this week I finally learned the truth (I think) about why beer can races are so named... because the markers we race around are kegs, aka beer cans. Duh. I never realized those aren't regular markers until I bought a nav chart of the bay and couldn't find the racing markers on it. Oh well... now I know.

The beer can race this past Wednesday was fun. Dave chartered a boat and took Sandi and me as his crew. When we got to the docks around 4:30pm, we had 38-knot winds... at the docks! That's 2.5 miles inland from the bay, and the winds are always stronger in the bay. Chris, the race director, decided on course 3, the shortest of the courses -- out to marker 3 and back -- only 5 miles or so round-trip. He almost cancelled the race but, in the end, told us all to go out at our own risk and come back safely.

We went out and putzed around in the channel for a while, having some fun tacking around in the high winds with only the main sail up, talking and laughing and having fun. After a while, we realized that the rest of the boats actually did sail up the channel and appeared to be doing the race. We'd missed the start by at least 20 minutes, but we headed up the channel anyway to see what the wind was like further out.

As we got closer to the bay, the winds got lighter... maybe 20 knots by the time we reached the bay. By that time, most of the boats were starting to come back in, and since we weren't racing anyway, we tacked and headed back in as well. The wind had really died down in the channel by then... maybe 10-15 knots. We could have raced. Oh well...

Sandi was trying out my camera, because she's thinking of buying one like it. She got a few good shots, which I've included in this post.

The dinner back at the yacht club that night was pheasant, duck, squab (pidgeon), and other exotic birds! It was a benefit for the youth sailing program. Most of the food was dry and not that tasty, but we all tried it all anyway. Another fun evening out sailing............