Dec 7th 2002
The Bridge Race
Diann steers us back to the club after the race.
We had arrived on Friday afternoon to participate in the Lighted
Boat Parade only to find it canceled due to the lack of power at
the clubhouse. Having just experienced the worst ice storm in
years, the central North Carolina area was having power
interruptions worse than from Hurricane Hugo! Therefore there was
to be no after-parade party available, no lights on the docks
for safety, etc.
Since we planned to participate in the Bridge Race on Saturday, there was no need to go back to Hickory.
After taking all the lights off the boat, we put our Pomeranians, Sable and Dottie, along with our "Grand-dog in keeping"- Angel on a blanket in the head to conserve their body heat. Off to Wal-Mart we went to pick up dinner to cook with our propane stove. I figured the stove would add warmth to the boat.
We even bought a red radiant 250watt light bulb and fixture to connect to our inverter. The plan was to rig the inverter to the house battery as we went to sleep and let the light burn as long as the battery would last- having the engine battery in reserve for the morning startup.
Thank goodness our slip neighbors, Suzie and Chester were on their boat that evening (Vintage Red). As Race Committee for Saturday's event, they were in Friday evening as well, and had their generator running. We were able to plug into their power system. Instead of cooking onboard to generate heat- we plugged in our ceramic heater and left with Suzie and Chester to join other friends for wine and chili at a home with power and gas log fireplace!
Even with the warmth of the ceramic heater, the low 20s temperature during the night caused Real Estate SAILS interior temperature to be only 42 degrees when we got up Saturday morning at 7AM. It was about 26 degrees outside. Needless to say, the girl-dogs did their grass run quickly and were ready to get back on the boat!
Vern Miles, a friend from Hickory, arrived a bit before 8AM. We readied the boat and headed to the Davidson channel for our 9AM race start. This being my first race in over 15 years, Diann &Vern's first ever, we cautiously crossed the start line "dog-tail" last.
As the race progressed, we gained some position and rounded the halfway mark (11.2 miles up lake) ahead of one other boat.
The wind built some, overpowering our sails. As a result we rolled in the jib a bit. Still we maintained over 6 knots.
Diann got tired and wasn't as quick on the draw to adjust the main sheet traveler as we tacked. I made a couple of judgment errors and so we got passed by the boat, which earlier was dead last.
But one of the other non-spinnaker boats got lost among the islands on the way back and as a result of their mistake- we didn't finish last after all! On corrected time we were about 3rd out of six non-spinacker boats. Not bad.
Once the sails were down, I started the propane stove, set the stove on gimbal, and proceeded to heat up a large pot of chicken noodle soup. What a welcomed lunch after a breezy seven hours on the water- 5 hours and forty five minutes participating in the race.
Vern rests as we come back to the club.
Suzie and Chester assist with the dock lines as we enter our
slip. As you can see, behind Suzie, the boat, Paradise, was
ready for the boat parade. Due to scheduling, we will
probably not be able to attend the postponed parade. We may put the
lights back up- maybe.