Annual Dennis Tor Memorial Regatta 2010

Bruce and I haven't done the Dennis Tor Regatta in years. It isn't one of the "biggies" as regattas go. But it looked like it would be a perfect weather day and we had crew. Jacquie, Steve...

and Johnny joined us aboard Elan for the day.





This regatta consisted of two races. There were two fleets, spinnaker and non-spinnaker divisions. We went non-spinnaker as we would have needed a few more crew members to fly the chute. These two boats are the rest of our fleet.

The start was a bit nerve wracking for me. It seemed that we would be right in this boat's way as we neared the mark. Imagine having this behemoth bearing down on you!





Just at the last minute, they tacked away and left us a straight shot at it.





We had a different course from the spinnaker fleet and were able to come very close to them many times. It made for some great photo ops.


Of course, our crew (guys) were focused on getting every bit of speed out of our sails even though the others in our fleet were not near enough to us to make it exciting.

Jacquie was our foredeck person for the upwind leg. We were using the big Genoa and it needed some help getting around the shrouds during each tack to reduce drag. She did a wonderful job and by the second tack or so, we had it down.

The bad thing about being so far from our competition that we don't have any idea how we're doing on the handicap until it's over. It's hard to remain focused when you can't see the result. Here we are coming up on marker #3 all alone.


We had some differing opinions about just how to set the pole out for the downwind leg of the course. There were some minor snafus but it got up and we were off!

I usually get the helm on the downwind runs as that's when Bruce is on the foredeck working. He doesn't really like sailing downwind and I do, so it works for us.

As we neared the finish line, we saw the windsurfer fleet jockeying for position at their start. I guess they only did one race.

It was cool that they were invited to join the regatta. I love being out there where they are. I got some great shots!

After the wind surfer's start and our finish, I went below to make some sandwiches for the crew. We thought we would have some time to kill waiting for the rest of the fleet to finish.

Before I could serve the lunch, it was done and they were starting the spinnaker fleet for their second race! Whoa! Wait! I must have lunch!

We stuffed some sandwiches into our mouths while scrambling to get the head sail back up for our start.

We had a good start anyway and we were off and running again.

This course was a bit longer with more marks to round. But, the day was beautiful and nearly warm. The crew kept having to take clothing layers off and put them on again. I thought the pictures would look like it took days because people would be wearing different clothes throughout the race.

We had a bit of excitement when one of the spinnaker fleet boats barely missed us in a tack. I'm still not sure what happened here but Jacquie was having flash backs from a collision aboard Cute Shoes. Bruce was at the stern prepared to fend off if needed, but it was not necessary.

No worries, back to tweaking sails. Bruce was a happy guy!

We had a pod of dolphin milling around near one of the marks. The water was very clear and we could see them swimming along under the surface. They didn't hang with us too long though.

Before I knew it, the end was in sight. We were all relaxed and happy with the day's progress. It's a change to sail in daylight these days. We had already begun to celebrate before we even crossed the finish line.

Once back in the slip, the crew got to work folding sails and putting things back in order. What a great bunch. There was an awards presentation at the CCYC. We found a place in the sun to wait for the announcements.

We had won first place in both races and took home a big bottle of Nicaraguan rum. It was a great day and we are all so glad that the weather is finally going our way.

Bruce and I spent the night at the boat and had dinner at BYC. We didn't stay up too late. We had a lovely morning sitting on the BYC deck with our coffee then spent the day doing errands and chores and relaxing.

Wednesday Night Race Committee

This week was our Committee Duty night. Bruce and I had help (actually they were more than help) from Steve and Jacquie.

Several friends showed up to spectate as well as many random tourist types.

It was a beautiful evening. Kind of a bummer that we had to run the race instead of participating as racers.

It's not so bad on those days that the winds are howling or it's really cold... but on nights like this, it's difficult.

There were 11 boats out enjoying the evening sail. Good partici-pation! It's been a really cold winter and the
Wednesday night races have been poorly attended.
Maybe things are turning around!

Steve ran the flags this time. He was serious about having no distractions to keep him from his routine. With Jacquie keeping track of the boats and what fleet they were in, I was left to my duties as the official photographer once again.

We were joined by Clay and Krystal. She said that she was free on Wednesday evenings this year and would be interested in doing the weekly races with us. Woo Hoo!

Once the boats were all on their way, we hung around for a bit chatting.

We decided to go to the boat for a beverage to wait for the racers to return. Sandy came along and had a great time exploring the boat. She's such a good baby dog.

After the sun went down, it got really cold again. We went back to the race start line to await the finish. The boats were relatively close together and there were no really late stragglers, thankfully. All in all, not such a bad "duty night". Spring is coming!

Quick Weekend Trip to See the Girls

We decided late in the week that it had been too long since we went to see the girls in San Antonio. The only thing on our weekend agenda was to do the taxes... done! and to drive out to the boonies for a BYC dinner. Not so important, so off we went on Saturday morning. We had no plans but left it up to the girls. Brittney had the day off and we did some antique shopping at a couple of stores the girls found. We walked into one place and found this wonderful couch, just waiting for us to arrive and drag it back to Melissa's place.

It is 11 ft long and was custom made for some guy with a really big house. It's immaculate! A white couch! It's so well made, it's much better than anything we could ever afford to have done ourselves. It probably sat in some unused room, unloved and unappreciated. It spoke to all of us in one way or another and we all decided she had to get it. If she didn't, Bruce and I would have! It's so big, you can't even get it all into one picture! But I think it's perfect for Melissa's place and it has so much character. As you can see.... her place is coming right along. I guess from now on, it's an air mattress for us when we visit.

We did a bit more shopping on Sunday when we went back to pay for the couch after measuring the living room to make sure it would fit. Melissa found this painting and just had to have it too. She is planning to use it in choosing the colors for her bedroom. As you can see, the walls are now blue. There is a bit of blue in the painting, but Melissa loves the other colors and can't wait for summer so that she can get going on her painting projects.

Between shopping excursions, we all went out to dinner on Saturday night, and then topped it off by visiting this new place, Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club. You can check it out on the website. http://www.lolsanantonio.com/ We saw a trio of very funny people beginning with their opener, a gay Hispanic gentleman in a velvet dinner jacket with a feather boa of a different color for every set. He was hysterical.

The headliner was a beautiful woman named Maryellen Hooper. Her fantastic facial expressions and body language made for an absolutely gut splitting commedy show. I laughed so hard I couldn't even hear the sound by the time her set was done. She also has a great blog that you can find by clicking the link called "Stinky Flowers" in my blog list at your right. Or you can follow this link... http://www.maryellenhooper.com/ and see where it leads. We will definately go back to LOL San Antonio again.

It was a fun weekend and a nice drive up and back with the wildflowers just beginning to peek from their winter blankets. Spring is in the air!