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The Day of the Races. The Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club Rendezvous, Continued.

By race day, all of the boats were finished and most of the varnish was dry, at least dry enough to sail. One skipper rubbed the bottom of his boat with a bar of soap to make it faster.

It seemed like everyone had a boat. Lots of smiles and excitement. On the viewing platform the club's officers toast the launching with champagne, perhaps a better use than pouring the bubbly on the boats! The gangplank is crowded with members. Everyone will race in heats.

Here comes Del with his boat. The T12's are off on their first heat. There were two heats for the T12's, with the first three boats in each heat qualifying for the trophy race. The T15 owners watch the 12 inch boats race and try to pick up tips on sail trim and course conditions. There is lots of laughter and good cheer. Everyone is having a good time. Now the T15s start on their first heat. The most remarkable part of the racing was that in such light air conditions, most of the boats kept right on course for the finish line. Here you can see the finish line, the yellow floating line in the water. The race committee with Greg in the inflatable did a great job keeping every thing straight. As the first three boats reached the finish line, the committee stuck a piece of tape on the sail indicating first, second or third place for that heat. At the starting line, the other half of the race committe is responsible for launching the boats at the start of each race. Even in this light wind there is a lot of suspense - in fact perhaps more because of the light wind! Now it is time for the 18 inch boats. Since there are only eight of this size boat, one race will determine the trophy winner. Del's boat starts out buried in the fleet (white and white sails), but moves forward to take the lead and crosses the line first. In a very sportsmanlike fashion, Del who will award the trophies at the awards ceremony defers to the second place finisher on the grounds that he has gotten insider tips from the builder and thus gotten an unfair advantage. My advice had been pretty vague, about the same thing I told everyone, just not to have the sails too loose or too tight for light air, a lot more information actually comes with the boats in the sailing tips. But it is always awkward to hand oneself a trophy. I was relieved that Robyn and Laine who were racing T15s didn't win the final race for the T15 trophy. That might have seemed like they had a real insider advantage! After the race, a beautiful line-up of boats. Such fun colors and designs.

Don't miss the Salmon Roast and Awards ceremony. Click here to continue the story of the Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club Rendezvous.