Tom Schaefer writes to the listserv about Duck Dodge, the weekly race on Lake Union...

"What color is YOUR duck?"

The 470's new duck is only bronze.  Now I know that for some of you seasoned Duck Dodge veterans, a bronze duck warrants a big yawn, but newish WYC member Sue Spaulding and I are pretty stoked!  Consider that:

Sue and I met for the first time about two and a half hours before our race start.
I had never sailed this particular 470 before.
Sue had never sailed ANY 470 before (although she did race 420s a few years back).

About midway through the race, I noticed that the dinghy contingent looked pretty small and that we appeared to be beating some of them.  As we neared the end of our gentle spinnaker run to the finish line, the dudes in the 505 that had captured the gold duck told us that they thought we were on our way to bronze--and they were right.  The 470 will wear her new bronze duck with pride and look forward to greater glory in the future.

Tom

Stay close to your email - today's the day for the Snooze 'n Cruise sign-ups!

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I hear there'll be grilling going on at the work party tomorrow!  Thurs 5-8 at the WAC - if you haven't been down before, grilling night is a good time to do it :)

Pump-outs near the WYC on this map - have one to add? Let us know!  https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=207808238243828951826.0004c436f6d53093fd323&msa=0&ll=47.66215,-122.325039&spn=0.048269,0.129604

Also - see new photos from the Keelboat Novice Field Trip last weekend on the Photos page of the WYC website: Photo Gallery

Club member Mark B. writes from up north...

(The WYC Burgee on S/V Mariposa in Prince Rupert , B.C., Canada, furthest spot north on this trip. )

I made it to Prince Rupert and picked up club member Charlotte who will crew with me for the next legs. 

I've been thinking about wether I should make the quick detour and hop over the Alaskan border just so I can say I went there. 

Well I have decided against it and the challenge will therefore remain open. I'll just have to try again next year!  My goal is Glacier Bay after all, not just the border. 

I'm maybe only 30 nautical miles away from it though, and I swear I can see Sarah Palin's home from my porthole!

John Courter sends an update about Friday racing at Sail Sand Point:


We had a nice 5-10 knot southerly with just  a few drops of rain during the picnic part.  We had 5 WYC club members participate in Lasers, 4 of which were in club boats.  There were about 20 Lasers out racing altogether.  There were 5 Windsurfers.  4 were WYC club members, and one offspring.  Only 1 person was using club equipment.  We saw real progress as in the past events we've never had more than 2 boards racing, all the rest were practicing sailing.  Last night all 5 boards were racing.  3 of the people windsurfing last night had just started Windsurfing this spring. Around 20 people stayed for the BBQ and told tall tales of their sailing prowess.


Photos by Ken Howe:


Alexia getting ready to start.

Finn cheering Alexia on.

 Francis Roque trying to keep up with the Lasers.

John was the first windsurfer over the line against 4 other WYC windsurfers. The dog's name is Finn on the SSP committee boat.

 Brendan from Sail Sand Point demonstrating why they won every race.

Want more?  View video of the race re-start here: https://vimeo.com/45045426

Boat Use Stats 2009-2011

John Courter has generated some boat use statistics for all of us to ponder.  Check these out:

I am most disappointed by the weather-correlated use stats.  I guess we really are a bunch of fair-weather sailors.  However, the overall use is up quite a bit since 2010, which is great.  I wish we could correlate each month with average windspeeds and see what the result is.