Saturday was a great day on the water!

I got hornswoggled into being the race committee boat for Saturday's J-24 sailing regatta at 9:30 Friday evening. The Fleet director wanted me to be available at Zero-Nine-Thirty(!) the next morning...

Yeah, right.  My response was that I would be there at eleven and ready to race at noon.

The breeze had heard about the upcoming event and was standing down until the crack of One. The committee (consisting of myself and the Fleet Director) got anchored and set for the first start which happened a few moments later. One boat crossed the line early and they got the dreaded X-Ray flag and had to go back over the line. All the other starts were clear and it was over all a good time of everyone.

While the first race was going, we sat in the sundeck area having sodas and sandwiches, I heard the unmistakable sound of radial iron in the sky... we couldn't see for a few moments because the bomber was directly overhead but it soon emerged as a B-17 heading for some beach air event. I had no camera ready and missed taking a shot when the aircraft was only a thousand feet up. She sounded great! I did get a long range photo a bit later when the B-17 was returning to the west.

Our good friend Bill in his J-24 "Defiant" had a victory, second and third place finishes in the three races.

The B-17 I mentioned.

Finishing a race.

Our buddy Bill drives on to good finishes. Not bad for a Canoe U. Grad. (Bill was a classmate of Lex)

Great start to the third race.  

Heading to the upwind Windward mark.

Rounding the upwind  Windward mark and turning downwind with spinnakers.

 Great time to be on the water, it was a very clear sky with mostly steady and slow breezes. It required the most skill to get all the boat speed against competitors who have identical vessels.

We all gathered for the post race burned burgers and dogs and enjoyed the company until well past sunset. The Barco Crew retired back to the home boat at 9:30 and were able to sleep the sleep of the exhausted.

Great weekend, wish all of the readers could have been there enjoying the weather and water onboard the Barco.