Hola Mis Amigas y Amigos,

 

This morning after a butchering of a haircut by an over-the-hill barber I resolved an internal dispute about my facial hair.  My beard had gone past 1/2 gray and I looked myself in the face across the bathroom sink with a critical eye.

 

It was time to shave off 5 years of growth.  Now if I could drop the balance of 5 years growth straining  my belt buckle!

 

5 years ago the beard added a continental touch to my image.  In fact I think it worked very well. I have been often mistaken for a German while traveling, and that is almost always preferrable to being taken as an American. With the possible exception of Italy where neither of my heritages are well  liked, due to the lack of diplomatic common sense over the past few years.

 

Well the photos of before and after here to the right are for common judgement, open for comment. What do you think?  Be kind if I have left room for any doubt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday I got to crew in an ocean race out of Port Canaveral on board the Fast Lane a 28 foot Lindenberg sailboat.

As I have not crewed in a race since my sophomore year in college,1981, one could say I was a little rusty. Someone of my size is worthwhile in such a race under the category of "Rail Meat".  Especially in a race like this, with 20 to 25 Knot winds on the ocean. I had a great time, learned a few of the "ropes" so to speak,  I was one of two crew in the cockpit position taking care of the Jib sheets during tacking. We had not expected to fly the Spinnaker in such high winds and seas, but we were lucky to pick up the skipper of another boat as an extra hand, as he did not have enough crew to make the race. Rene played the essential "Foredeck" position orchestrating the control of the powerful and perilous Spinnaker.

 The first Spinnaker fly was a little shakey, but by the second one the crew handled all our jobs in smooth order and it was awesome. We rocketed along with the wind just to port of the stern, rocketing over the mounting swells.

 We did very well for the first 10 or 11 miles of this 15 mile race. The third Spinnaker fly was a different matter, we rounded the mark I handled the Jib release and tailed in the line as we hauled in on the new tack. The Foredeck had rigged the Spinnaker, and as soon as we had run aways out and could make the slight turn to position to hoist the big sail the order rang out, "Hoist Away" UP she went! First there was bit of fluster, as the sail tried to find it's fill of air. And then...

WHAM, something let go, the pole may have not been seated properly and came free. The boat took a hard heal .  Cheryl called out to "Blow the Sheet and Blow the Halyard. As all hands of the crew were hanging on to the deck , which was now more of a wall we were climbing up. The other Cockpit crew Andy dropped into the water, but was tangled in the lifelines and clutching on to a winch on deck he managed to hang on.  His head broke free of the water and he called out "I'm OK!" As he looked up he saw all 7 other crew standing straight at attention backs against the deck The mast was nearly tipping into the water. I turned 'round and climbed up on to the Starboard side of the hull.  Shifting my 1/8 ton of "Rail Meat" where it could do the most good. Under my chest I felt and then heard one of the Spinnaker control lines flying through it's sheaves, the tail whipped my shoulder on it's hurried escape. The boat slowly began to come upright. We assesed our situation, and moments later I was hauling in the jib sheet and we were back in the race. Andy had a couple of scrapes and I am sure found a few new bruises. He kept saying it was an awesome experience.  We lost one line, but recovered the Spinaker and still managed to finish third place behind the other two Lindenberg 28's in this race.

 

We managed to tip over one more time on the way back into the harbor, under just the main sail when we all were hanging off the Port side and the wind swirled on us, and hit the boat from the opposite side. Suddenly the high side of the boat was the low side, and my legs went in the drink, I spun around and grabbed hold of a winch and hauled myself back aboard as we re-righted.

 

I am told this does not normally happen. In fact the other boats had a wonderful time winding Cheryl up about our adventurous race. I loved every minute of it. I am looking forward to my next shot out. Next time I hope to be of more use, and maybe keep my butt out of the water.