The Great Bug Out

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The Great Bug Out                   Harry Reed

July 2, Spring Sailing Series- Light winds plagued the fleet, starting out at 4 knots, but
built to 7 knots on a beam reach to Sledd Creek.  The Flying Scots of Mark Schaberg and Dave
Casey, with, Bev Reed’s Santana 20, Treasure Chest, led the way.  John Phillippe followed gamely along with his
heavier Catalina 320, a vessel relatively unsuited for the light air. The Hunter 33.5, Our Time, brought up the
rear.  As winds rose to 11 knots there were hopes of a complete race.   Alas, those hopes were dashed as the winds abated and Our Time struggled to make the first turning mark as the rest of the fleet made its way toward the canal.  On the homeward leg, Treasure Chest developed a 50 yard lead on the east side of the lake as they passed a large 4 foot
catfish.  The specimen was deceased and the crew suddenly became aware of thousands of tiny biting flies attacking.   Jib trimmer Stephanie picked up a flip flop and swatted herself continually attempting to combat the hoard.  The wind died completely and the girl on Dave’s  boat dove in the water to escape the flies.  At one point, both Schaberg and Casey were pointed in the wrong direction.  Dave bantered “where are you going?”  Mark laughed, “The same place as you.”  To compound the misery of the biting flies, heat and sweat, the 4^th of July power boats created a confused artificial chop that threw the little boats about, shaking the rigging wildly back and forth.

        A slight land breeze developed out of the west side of the lake and Blue Moon cut left to gain a slight advantage.   Schaberg
tacked to the right and moved up into the lead.   The wind was now fully dead and the committee boat moved up to call the race at 12:30. When the lead sailors were asked if they agreed to call the race they were uniformly desperate to get off the lake to escape the flies.  Schaberg and Casey were credited with a tie for first with Treasure Chest in third.  Phillippe performed outstanding sailing to keep No Worries within striking distance in fourth.   Our Time was unable to make the second mark.  We towed the two flying Scots back to port and they were exceedingly grateful.   Afterward it was a little too hot to raft up so we sought comfort in the slip with the air conditioner.  Last week was of course the 4^th of July holiday weekend and as usual, for those of us who spend every weekend at the lake, the lake and marinas seem over run by “interlopers”.   Last year I can still
remember the desperate drunks pounding on the bathroom doors, trying to speed those inside with their task. 
       This year we had just settled down to sleep on our vessel in the slip after the fireworks.  Outside we heard a loud voice “follow Nay Nay”.  This term I had not heard before but came to believe it meant nana or grandma.  A 50ish rotund couple  waddled down to the end of the pier near our berth with a gang of children in tow.  They proceeded to detach the anchor of our neighbor’s
house boat and propped it up on the dock to aid in shooting fireworks. 

This we did not know until, looking directly up through our v berth hatch, we saw a large starburst and report close overhead with embers streaking down over ours and half a dozen other nearby vessels. I stuck my head up through the hatch and exclaimed “ hey whats going on!” The startled rocketeers blurted out “we didn’t know anyone else was here”. It didn’t matter if anyone was there. I replied, “ canvas and fiberglass can be damaged not to mention the fuel and fiberglass”. They said “we didn’t know it would go straight up!” Where is a rocket supposed to go? Off they strolled but, the next morning the anchor was left detached from its rhoad and in the middle of the dock. Apparently they were 4^th of July guests of one of the  boat owners back up the dock.  The next day Gus opined “what were they thinking.  They could have set the whole dock on fire.”  It is times like these I question the demographics of the evolving American society.  Was Plato right, democracy is destined to spiral downward?  Maybe the time is soon
to just sail away, but not quite yet.  Hope to see you Saturday at 10AM.     New email address is hcreed@live.com