Despite the scorching hot conditions throughout the day, the forecast for wind on the North East River was 10 knots out of the North, so I simply ignored the temperature sign reading 101˚ on Route 40 and hoped everyone else would do the same. I was also short on crew, but didn’t have the heart to call on Commodore Russ for another trip on the Solaris sweat lodge, and kept my fingers crossed that there would be a few others I could snag to go sailing once I got to the club. Fortunately, Mary, Eden and Robbie Shand were game, so things were looking up.

The wind was building out of the North as predicted, and a good crowd showed up for racing. Since it was very low tide, Rick and Kyle Hanson decided NOT to take Rosalita out and plow weeds, and joined a big group of Junior sailors on Lasers, with a couple others on Optis. So we had a great breeze, a big group of small boats out sailing, and 8 big boats hitting the start line right on time at 6:45pm.

Unfortunately, some ominous thunderheads started forming to the South, and virtually sucked the wind right of the bay, leaving us to creep along about 20 minutes after the start. So, we had some mighty slow going, and had to shorten our course significantly. The Hergan family once again took an early lead and held it throughout the race.

After the first few finishes and a couple retirements, the wind came back with a vengeance, giving Whimsey, Sugaree and Indigo an exciting finish within seconds of each other and at very high speed. Unfortunately, the rest of us missed it, settling for a nice dinner inside the cool confines of the Burgee Lounge. So the wind dances we did on July 3rd didn’t quite deliver and will need a little work before next week.