“The first of our Thursday Night summer races was enjoyed by the participants, but turned out to be a bit of a wash out. What appeared to be a sizeable gap in weather fronts seemed to close in us a little faster than anticipated, resulting in a few tense minutes on the water.

The skippers and crews of Whimsey, Morning Star, Sugaree, Morphos, Lisadell and Solaris headed out despite some light rain during the skippers meeting. Five Junior Sailors also headed out on Lasers. Perhaps the folks on Therapy, Luminous, Pegehiwime and Valiant Tri were the wiser ones, staying ashore.

Unfortunately, our hopes for some front-related wind didn’t materialize, so things were rather slow going to our first mark, and just about non-existent on the way to the second mark. Thank goodness the tide was going out – I think that was the major source of movement for Solaris. At 7:30, the crew on Solaris was threatening mutiney, so we retired, and about 30 seconds later, the first clap of thunder was heard roaring up the bay, followed by intense rain. Morning Star, Morphos and Lisadell then quickly retired, and “gardian angel of the day” Rick Hanson retrieved the Junior sailors with the skiff and towed them in to safety.

Despite the conditions, Sugaree and Whimsey stayed in the race, finishing just after 8:00pm – so congratulations for hanging in there. I’ll publish an official document next week, but kudos to Rick Fellows on Sugaree for his first place finish, staying ahead of Whimsey by 25 seconds on corrected time.

Even though we were sopping wet and the rain kept up, you still can’t beat sitting on the patio on a warm summer night with good friends, burgers and beer.”