August 24, 2025
by Earl Thomas #5121
Commodore & Fleet 62 Captain
Commodore & Fleet 62 Captain
The skies were cerulean blue with light gossamer clouds overhead on Sunday. The wind filled in a little all day but settled into a pretty constant 5-7 mph. So a good day of sailing overall. We had 3 Lidos , 2 Sunfish, 1 El toro, 2 Zests, 1 Hobie Island and 1 Foamfish. The crews consisted of Yossi and his daughter (Zests), Roy and Russ (Sunfishes), Stephen and Logan, Simon and Trifon (new guy neighbor of Ralf’s), Ralf and myself, Paul Zander (El Toro), Richard (Foamfish) and Adrian (Hobie). We arrived in the morning finding a big outrigger canoe trailer and truck in the trailer parking area, but we squeezed in. They had just had a competition the day before and were returning the boat to Shoreline where they also compete and practice.
Harold, Maria, Oliver and Fiona deftly handled the RC duties all together in the rowboat. Thank you to all four. With many hands the job is easy. Well I hope it was, if there were plenty of snacks on board. We now have two certified junior RC cadets. The RC boat and family got a tow back in from Chris Nicol from Shoreline at the end of the day. Harold was taking some photos of the action and hopefully we will see some of those soon.
We got in 5 races on Sunday, courses 2, 3, 4, 2, 4. Stephen and Logan made it look easy and swept the Lido finishes. Simon and I tried and were close to them at a few of the mark turnings but they just pulled away and gained maybe 50 yards on each leg. Russ and Roy battled it out with Russ bettering almost all the boats, Yossi and Emma were back and forth splitting their finishes evenly. Richard survived one race in his FoamFish but headed in soon after. Paul was close to the Zests in finishing times. And Adrian did 2 races before heading in. The sailing was close between boats all day with neither side of the lake being favored for too long as the wind shifts were slowly moving about.
One wayward kayak got into the starting line on one of the races, at 30 seconds to go, and caused chaos with lots of gybes and tacks to miss them and all the rest of our club’s boats. But all were safe and I didn’t even hear any salty nautical terms being thrown about. Harold mentioned that from his RC position, the starts were very close with just inches separating OK from OCS. He did call out a few too early transgressors but you should be testing the limits of how close to push it. And we know a great start equals a great finish if there are no self induced brain farts out on the course.
We met 7 new people today interested in sailing, Mary Cummings came by early to meet us and check out the boats. She had sailed years ago and wants to try again. Emma and her dad Francis stopped by afterwards. Emma had been sailing a Zest all day near us and was sailing well. They are interested in Emma continuing to sail, maybe with us. Trifon is a neighbor of Ralf's and came along with him to maybe crew. And we needed him on Simon’s Lido. He crewed very well. And Mark Alguard and his wife were sailing a Capri today near us as well and they stopped by afterwards to find out more info. They live nearby so it sounds like it will be convenient for them to come and sail with us.
Simon completed his Lido measurement certificate with Stephen (our Lido fleet measurer). He needed to adjust his rudder width just a little to meet specs. Now he is all legal and ready for the Lido 14 District II Championships on Sept 13 and 14.
Russ started a little election after the races. As to who was the best Lido 14 Fleet Captain in the past 40 years. He listed several former captains but I think he was biased and he brought up some people that no one had ever heard of from the distant and forlorn past. And he included me in the list on nominees. So after an impromptu election I was declared the winner. But I think there may have been some tampering of the voting machines, mail in ballots and or some pay offs were made. But I received a trophy bottle of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cranberry-Apple Juice as the victor. Thank you but we might need to do a manual recount if I can find a sympathetic judge some where to order it.
Snacks were courtesy of Adrian and he brought his famous meatballs, Russ brought cookies, chips and more and Roy provided watermelon, dates and grapes. All of it was great and it was what we needed apres-sailing. So thank you to all of them. Our next sailing date will be on (Sept. 7th) and it's our last regular race day so the snack volunteer positions are now available and we are currently accepting resumes and applications.
Thanks for all the help with schlepping the RC boat to and from the water. Most everyone lent a hand on the comings and goings. An empty boat is a lighter boat, duh. Thanks to the Lidos for their traditional mark placement and retrieval. We are going to need to get an extra hippity hop (our marks just turned upside down) for Oliver as he discovered the marks on shore and was using them for their original purpose.
Hopefully everyone will be returning for our last day of racing on Sept. 7th. We want everyone to show up for a big end of the season blow out. I mean with moderate wind speed of course not really blowing, but just right.
Harold, Maria, Oliver and Fiona deftly handled the RC duties all together in the rowboat. Thank you to all four. With many hands the job is easy. Well I hope it was, if there were plenty of snacks on board. We now have two certified junior RC cadets. The RC boat and family got a tow back in from Chris Nicol from Shoreline at the end of the day. Harold was taking some photos of the action and hopefully we will see some of those soon.
We got in 5 races on Sunday, courses 2, 3, 4, 2, 4. Stephen and Logan made it look easy and swept the Lido finishes. Simon and I tried and were close to them at a few of the mark turnings but they just pulled away and gained maybe 50 yards on each leg. Russ and Roy battled it out with Russ bettering almost all the boats, Yossi and Emma were back and forth splitting their finishes evenly. Richard survived one race in his FoamFish but headed in soon after. Paul was close to the Zests in finishing times. And Adrian did 2 races before heading in. The sailing was close between boats all day with neither side of the lake being favored for too long as the wind shifts were slowly moving about.
One wayward kayak got into the starting line on one of the races, at 30 seconds to go, and caused chaos with lots of gybes and tacks to miss them and all the rest of our club’s boats. But all were safe and I didn’t even hear any salty nautical terms being thrown about. Harold mentioned that from his RC position, the starts were very close with just inches separating OK from OCS. He did call out a few too early transgressors but you should be testing the limits of how close to push it. And we know a great start equals a great finish if there are no self induced brain farts out on the course.
We met 7 new people today interested in sailing, Mary Cummings came by early to meet us and check out the boats. She had sailed years ago and wants to try again. Emma and her dad Francis stopped by afterwards. Emma had been sailing a Zest all day near us and was sailing well. They are interested in Emma continuing to sail, maybe with us. Trifon is a neighbor of Ralf's and came along with him to maybe crew. And we needed him on Simon’s Lido. He crewed very well. And Mark Alguard and his wife were sailing a Capri today near us as well and they stopped by afterwards to find out more info. They live nearby so it sounds like it will be convenient for them to come and sail with us.
Simon completed his Lido measurement certificate with Stephen (our Lido fleet measurer). He needed to adjust his rudder width just a little to meet specs. Now he is all legal and ready for the Lido 14 District II Championships on Sept 13 and 14.
Russ started a little election after the races. As to who was the best Lido 14 Fleet Captain in the past 40 years. He listed several former captains but I think he was biased and he brought up some people that no one had ever heard of from the distant and forlorn past. And he included me in the list on nominees. So after an impromptu election I was declared the winner. But I think there may have been some tampering of the voting machines, mail in ballots and or some pay offs were made. But I received a trophy bottle of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cranberry-Apple Juice as the victor. Thank you but we might need to do a manual recount if I can find a sympathetic judge some where to order it.
Snacks were courtesy of Adrian and he brought his famous meatballs, Russ brought cookies, chips and more and Roy provided watermelon, dates and grapes. All of it was great and it was what we needed apres-sailing. So thank you to all of them. Our next sailing date will be on (Sept. 7th) and it's our last regular race day so the snack volunteer positions are now available and we are currently accepting resumes and applications.
Thanks for all the help with schlepping the RC boat to and from the water. Most everyone lent a hand on the comings and goings. An empty boat is a lighter boat, duh. Thanks to the Lidos for their traditional mark placement and retrieval. We are going to need to get an extra hippity hop (our marks just turned upside down) for Oliver as he discovered the marks on shore and was using them for their original purpose.
Hopefully everyone will be returning for our last day of racing on Sept. 7th. We want everyone to show up for a big end of the season blow out. I mean with moderate wind speed of course not really blowing, but just right.