A learning experience

I've already mentioned that we "almost" nailed the start last Friday. If some yahoo hadn't been pummeling the pin with his bow, we would have been over within seconds of the gun, instead of tacking to avoid him. Whether that was the favored end or not is a subject best left to someone who actually understands such matters.

But there was confusion. The RC was busy waving a blue flag with a white square in the middle of it. Ack, that flag isn't covered on my racing flag sticker. What the hell did it mean? Nobody else was turning around so we kept going. The most confusing part was that when we were getting near the windward mark, people were still going to windward, was it some change to the course?

Well, I finally looked it up in my racing rules of sailing, it's a preparatory signal. Which is even odder given that he had shot the prep signal gun five minutes earlier, right on time. Was it the prep signal for the next division? I'll never know.

On to more good news. The Florida Division of Team Polka Dot Racing had their first meeting. A quorum was established with one member:


Notice how much nicer the Florida Chapter's water is? To keep the moving companies at bay, I will remind myself that it is 100 degrees there with 100% humidity and no wind. Of course, come December when it's even colder on the water here, we can have United Haulers give us a call.