A Sunfish Convention

Me, and 30 or so of my closest friends

Sorry for the late post, but Skipper and I (and a rare treat, Mrs Skipper and the 2 mates) just got back from the Sunfish Regional Championships at the Wequaquet Yacht Club in Hyannis this weekend. It was awesome! I've never seen so many Sunfish in one place in my life. There were 31 of us. All the All-Stars and their skippers were there. There was one brand new 60th Anniversary Sunfish there and there were a couple of Sunfish that were nearing their own 60th birthdays. The club loves Sunfish, heck they even have a special bar just for us!

Sunfish Only!

We didn't do too badly, but we had one race where everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.  First we bollixed up the start and made our way to last place before the first tack. Then Skipper fouled a guy and had to do a penalty turn, then my outhaul line broke. We managed to hobble through the last three legs with my sail looking like an old wrinkled bed sheet, and fended off a couple of boats who tried to take advantage of us.

All in all, we didn't do too badly.  They All-Stars beat us, like they always do, but we held our own against the mortal boats. Skipper and I are both sore after two days of hard racing, but it was well worth it.  Thanks Wequaquet Yacht Club for an awesome time.

A Friend is Hurt

One of the boats at Summer Camp got badly hurt the other day, and it doesn't look good for him. Somebody dropped him onto the storage rack and his bottom got cracked really badly.  Nobody's fessed up to it and he's not talking, but he's in a really bad way. They dragged him away from the waterfront and put him up in the back where nobody can sail him.  I've heard rumors that there are scavengers that come and strip parts off of hurt boats.  I hope they don't get him. And I certainly hope that he doesn't end up like this:

Electricity and Sailboat Racing Don't Mix

Us Sunfish, All wet and getting wetter

Skipper and I were both looking forward to our time racing together.  The weather was hot, and we both wanted to get on the water. Anyway, he showed up early today, we got all set up and went out to the race course.  The wind was really weird today, one minute blowing hard in gusts then completely drying up the next.  Skipper almost fell into the water more than once. We got a great start, then halfway up the leg, all of a sudden the Committee Boat comes up to us full bore.  She looked panicked, and her skipper was yelling.  Then we saw it. A huge thunderstorm was bearing down on us, flashing and booming, and blocking all the sunlight.

I took us in as fast as I could. Near the club, the wind died, and Skipper had to paddle us in.  We got in and Skipper was just about to put my blankets on when it started to rain. Hard. Now that we're both wet, the heat wave broke, and we got cold. Lightning was hitting all around us. It figures that the only thunderstorm of the day had to hit while Skipper and I were racing, and clear up right at the end of our racing time.  Dang!

Even though today was a disappointment, Skipper had a surprise for me.  We're doing a road trip! Next weekend, he's signed us up for a huge Sunfish regatta. He says all my friends from frostbite camp are going to be there. Two full days of racing at someplace called "Cape Cod". I can't wait.

An Oldie but a Goodie

The Old Girl and her Skipper. 

Since we started racing on Saturdays, Sunfish have been coming out of the woodwork to race.  It's awesome. We had 6 boats partying yesterday.  Yesterday an old girl showed up and went on the water for the first time in 20 years! Her skipper had just finished patching her up and sanding her hull. You should have seen how excited she was.  Her skipper had a hard time holding her back.  Sure, she's got the old style rudder, her sails are beat up and she had the creaks and groans that any old boat has, but she was raring to go.  She beat me and Skipper a couple of times and even won a race!

Second Class Citizen

No Fish Today?!

I noticed that Skipper wasn't at summer camp at his usual time this week.  Then I noticed that all of the other Sunfish skippers were late too.  We all started getting nervous.  What happened to our skippers?  Did they all suddenly comedown with mass amnesia?  Was there a terrible car accident that they all got into?  Was there a plague?

Then we saw that all of the Laser skippers were there.  Now Lasers are smug boats, being an Olympic class and all, and they told us that they didn't notice anything unusual, because after all, for years they've been the only boats racing on Saturdays, and this was just a return to normal for them.

We all spent a fretful night.  Then I saw Skipper on Sunday.  He said that there was a Laser Team Regatta, and there was no Sunfish racing.  Then he said he'd see me next week and then took the Harlot out racing instead of me (She finished last again Ha Ha!).