On very short notice, and without much information on the conditions, eight sailors show up to sail today. I was a bit nervous having called this day, but desperation can drive one right to the edge. Fortunately there was no edge on the Plymouth plate today. Where we had open water last time there was the same six inches that we found everywhere. The surface has a dash of styrofoam and touch of shell; one could be generous and grade it a 7.5. Very sailable. Lloyd had his 1/8″ Cheapskate bedframe runners and marveled at the way they moved through the crud. The sun never did come out, which might have saved the surface from softening. The wind began to soften after lunch, though. There was a great puff along the shore just to the south of the pits, such that once you’ve worked the boat back, thinking it was time to pack it up, you stumble into this pedal to the medal rush so you run down along the trees, jibe, and go blasting back out to where the others were still trying to get wound up. Not everyone discovered this, and it became too heartless a game after a while.

Bunting, Buchholz, Bart Chapin, Jim Gagnon, Bruce Brown, Squibb and Roberts.

Missing from this photo is Curtis Rindlaub who was just having too much fun with INDIGO to take a break. He’s improved the sheeting yet again, and has brought the performance to the point where he’s almost the one to catch. She has topped 70mph before, so she’s got it in her. It felt so wonderful to hear the crunch of cleats on ice again, and to analyze every single flag on the long drive north, trying to get a read on the wind. One flag is too stiff, next one too lazy; what stress. And then the town of Jackson, in some sort of patrio-christmas fervor, put a flag on every telephone pole for about three miles. One could have a break-down along that gauntlet.

There will be a few people sailing tomorrow. Wind is forecast to be light, but Jory says he’s happy just to come push the boat around. Bob Lombardo reports that Pushaw Pond, in Old Town, is pretty good and could have a great surface by the weekend. So maybe we’re getting into a decent stretch of sailing. It takes all the eyes we have to find this stuff. Thanks again to Doug Raymond for scouting this. Sadly, he had roofers working at his house today and couldn’t sail.