Kids on boats!

Well, It's been a long, cold winter, (coldest in recorded history in Florida) but today it got up near 80 at my house and the lake is warming up. So I finally talked my 13yr. old daughter into going out on the Prindle Escape (18 hulls, 16 rig, double traps) with her 13yr. old school friend, as I chased them around the lake on the old Hobie 14.

Not much wind but perfect for a couple of newbies to go out for their first solo ride and they had no trouble running away from me!

I'm trying to talk my daughter into crewing once in a while on the Blade, and if I can get them both trained on the spin, they can sail it together...which means...I'll need a new F16, right?

That's how I'm selling it to the wife anyway!

Here we go (many eyes rolling)...


Despite a suspect start to your post, your logic here seems absolutely unassailable.

I think you guys up north don't understand the Florida lifestyle. You suffer unbelieveable heat and humidity all summer, which is from May-November, not just June, July and August like up north. You willingly suffer this heat for one reason only, the winter. Winter is supposed to be "the time" for sailing, golfing, biking, all that stuff that it's just too freakin' hot to do from May-Nov.

Well, this year we got screwed out of that, with temps running 15-20 below "average", and it Snowed in Tampa! This is the first winter in the 13 years I've lived here that I did not sail, at all. At all. Not once. And I live on a lake. With 3 cats in the back yard, two of the mast up, ready to go.

But the heat and humidity (and light air) is on the way, and we'll have to wait another 6mo for next winter, and hope it's a much better year for sailing.

It's about the same as when I lived up in New Hampshire and we relished our June, July and August, but one summer there was a lot of volcanic activity somewhere far off, but it was very cold and rainy all summer. I think it rained 11 out of 12 weekends that year and hardly was ever above 70. They called it "the year with no summer".

This was the same here, but a crap winter. BUT...like I said, today was nice, I was home, the kid was willing, the wind was right, the wife was gone. Not too often do all those things come together at once.

Now, full disclosure, I don't own a dry suit, if it's not warm enough for shorts and a spray top, I'm not going. I sail for fun, not for pain.

PS, the wife actually wants me to buy a new cat...a Gemini cruising cat. Not gonna happen any time soon.

Agreed

You really should convince one of your F18 buddies to come to Racine for NA's and offer to crew. A whole week of sailing in August!

Does it have to be an F18 buddy...to crew?

Actually no, N20 works as well. Or you could borrow an F17. Details.

What a whore!

Hey, the evening weather man tonight said it was warmer in Illinois than in Tampa today! See, that's the kind of winter we've been having, it'll be down to 52 tonight but it's supposed to -finally- get up to 83 tomorrow, first time since last November, which is highly unusual.

You got sailing wrong man. Suffering is part of the experience

We had an interesting discussion at our club the other day: what is the minimum temperature the safety coxswain should be using as a guidance to decide to close the water. Note that the issue are not the sailors but the race management who are stuck in a middle of our lake in an open unheated committee boat.

The decision was to recommend to the safety coxswain to close the water if the temperature goes below -5C (23F) not including windchill. It's just a recommendation mind you, they don't have to... The sailors here still sail with a frozen mainsheet

I know you guys sail in some nasty stuff over there, but that's mostly what you have, so you are used to it. I've become a 'weather pussy' since moving south. I guess my blood has thinned out dealing with 98F and 95% humidity for 5 months at a time, but when 'winter' comes around, it's supposed to be 80 and 'nice'. Well this year it was 65 and blowing 25 gusting to 30 most of the days I was home, so I stayed in the house.

Hell, I'm from a frozen wasteland, I wouldn't sail with ice on the sheets.

Frost in the morning is a different story though.

Update for Kids on Boats...today there was enough wind to get them double trapped! I sat on the tramp and told them what to do of course, but they took turns driving from out on the wire.

My secret plan is coming together nicely...don't tell my wife.

Next weekend we'll rig the Topaz 16CX for the Club's kids.
65f = Nice Summer Day. 70f = Really Good Summer Day. 80f = HEATWAVE !

Hi Dermot, I sent you a private message a while back, Hope you had a Happy St. Paddy's! Looks like another storm is heading your way today! I flew over DUB on Sunday morning but it was too cloudy to see Blesso.

Hope all is well, be good!