Meanwhile, below on Maniac, check out Bob's cool wide brim deal - looks like kind of a hybrid bucket/fedora (a "budora" if you will) - a Tilley's hat by chance?  Now if you have ever witnessed a cold Shackleton race over the years, you would have definitely seen (and envied) Tim's jester type winter cap. Not sure what else one would call it. Although it may perhaps be one of a kind, rumor has it that the Shackleton crew itself (yes the Shackleton crew from the Antarctic) were the first to design such hats at the whaling station after their hike across South Georgia Island. After all, it is hard to think of anything more fitting for several men to have on the top of their heads while zipping down the side of a glacier bobsled-style - without the bobsled! Kind of fits the mood, you know? 

Well, actually there would be one better thing to have when sliding off a mountain top...

And this is even more appropriate for sailing, especially today! (More on that later.) And yes, there is definitely a story behind this helmet worn by Paul Healy from the Whatta Ride! crew. Part of that story is on the port side of the helmet:

Anyway...

YES there was a race today! And it was a GREAT day for a sailboat race as evidenced in the opening photo of True Blue atop this report. With all the big rains we have had so far this winter, which has honestly felt a little more spring like, the river was again swelled up just a couple feet shy from summer pool. But we can't have that this time of year so the water was again flowing freely in attempts to empty the lake (now that there is an established record for groundings in a race, some one is sure to want to try and break it!). But this time, unlike some prior races this season, we had some good southerly winds to fight the current with. Good thing, because we were headed downstream first!

Downloaded from crudemaps.com

It was a fun filled ride down to the Possum Creek vicinity - albeit crowded at times as seen on the left. Of course that was soon after the start and things are always bunched up a little then.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, this race report had the potential to become a War and Peace novel (it may still, if I keep rambling). Today, Andre took the helm of Luna Teak while I worked the sheets and foredeck during the spinnaker run. The camera was in hand at all times, snapping photos at will, most of which were taken in the area of the windward marks. Even though the fleet spread out a little as it normally does, it made for some spectacular photography (for the "point and click"  amateur type photographer I am) as boats were sailing to and from the downstream marks. There were several excellent spinnaker shots of Maniac and Whatta Ride!, upwind pictures showing the pretty, rich colors on the hull of Lady Kiki, and even photos of a rogue MacGregor 26 that made its way into the course from somewhere down river, flying a neat little asymmetrical spinnaker. Many of these would have been published here if not for the fact that, at some point in time during the upwind leg, I accidentally switched on the camera's "night framing" option - so what I thought would be some cool action photos to share here, turned out to be nothing but whited-out rectangular shapes when uploaded to the hard drive. Argh!

Fortunately, we had others handy with a camera today and special thanks to James and Scott for sending what they captured on film, er..., memory card. In fact, the picture at the right that James snapped is a prime example of the variety of boats that participate in this series and where else but in our humble fleet would you see a J 24 duking it out with a Mariner 36 ketch? Furthermore, where else would you see someone single handing that very same 36' ketch? Yep, this is always a great bunch to sail with!

But with all this, I guess you readers want to know what happened out there today. Well, we tacked, we jibed, we sailed hard, and had a grand time doing it! Congratulations to Whatta Ride! for their victory today - another tight finish between them and Maniac. On a side note, has anyone else noticed the crew population explosion on these two boats as of late? Nothing wrong with that, just sayin'. Seriously, super job by them and everyone else today!

Oh, and that statement earlier about a helmet being an appropriate accessory today? Andre took a boom on the ol' noggin during our last jibe on Luna Teak. Fortunately, he was not injured but did suffer Excedrin Headache #55, got a nice swollen spot, and lost his prized toboggan in the process (the fashion world weeps). I didn't even know it happened at the time since I was temporarily paralyzed on the foredeck by our spinnaker as it somehow wrapped me up during takedown. It was kind of like when Superman threw that giant cellophane looking "S" over those super villains. It wasn't until I returned to the cockpit that I learned of Andre's misfortune. Yes, we are thankful he was not hurt any further. Let's all be careful out there and remember Paul's Sailing 101 rules: 1. See Boom, 2. Duck. See you at Race 7!

RACE 6 RESULTS

SERIES STANDINGS

Sale Creek Marina Multiboating, Inc.

3900 Lee Pike

Soddy Daisy, TN 37379

E-mail: salecreekmarina@epbfi.com