Since moving to FL I haven't had much to do with sailing or for that matter the water. Today I had my first RC experience for a High School Regatta hosted by the USSC Martin County. I'd been offering to help out on RC since last Spring. But most of their events occur in the season - which is Winter. So I was assigned to the Mark Boat. I thought that's easy enough. In NY we would set a mark, maybe, or use government marks. Drop a mark or two and watch the race. No, it wasn't that way here and it was eye opening. Our "Club" in NY didn't do juniors so I guess I was in the dark about it. As most of you probably know they run as many races as possible. Marks were drifting in the 18 knot breeze and 1-2 foot waves. Additionally, the PRO wanted a short finish line so we had to move the pin from the start position to the finish position for every race. Meanwhile we were trying to keep an eye on the kiddies who were tipping over all over the place. Kudos to organizers for have 2 or 3 chase boats on the water all the time. But still on the Mark Boat we had to fill in at times. We got five races in before the kids were getting physically tired. Thank the Lord they got tired because I wasn't sure how many more races I had in me. But all in all a success. I met some nice people and have broken the ice, sort of speak, in a new area.
And how about those kids? Amazing. I would have hit the beach after one capsize. They hung pretty tough for five races and seemed to have a pretty good time. Some of them just weren't big enough physically to right their boats. But they wouldn't give up. My hopes for the future of sailing were brightened a bit today.
And how about those kids? Amazing. I would have hit the beach after one capsize. They hung pretty tough for five races and seemed to have a pretty good time. Some of them just weren't big enough physically to right their boats. But they wouldn't give up. My hopes for the future of sailing were brightened a bit today.