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DOWNRIVER
CRUISE—2002 Fleet
50’s second annual Downriver Social Cruise to Ft. Foote was held on
June 23. Again this year we
were blessed by nearly ideal winds of 7-9 kt. to our anchorage, and
about the same on the return. With
no chance of thunderstorms, there was no need for a PRSA power boat
delighting this writer who was the designated operator.
Temp. was about 90, and due to the nice breeze, didn’t seem
hot. The anchoring
area was easy to find—the park service had cleaned up the beach area.
The park ranger we coordinated with last year was amazed and
excited that people would actually sail
to the park. He
promised a cleanup for this year’s event.
When we left the marina about 10:15 the winds from the Southeast
made for long port tacks. It
took only a little over one hour to get there.
On the way back the wind shifted to the southwest; this made for
a long spinnaker run all the way to marina.
We returned right on schedule about 5:00 PM. This
year’s cruise was opened to all PRSA members; but oddly, only Hank
Krafft and Lee Banic, Penguin sailors came with us.
They sailed with Frank. We
were hoping to see more. With 8 boats we fell a little short of our goal
of 10, but Drew Hudson was sidelined due to back surgery; and, Paul
Maher and Ben Kuykendall still hadn’t returned from the Annapolis to
Bermuda race they participated in.
Both participated last year.
With
David Thompson were wife Barbara, crew Joe Kimak and Joe’s daughters
Caitlin and Adrienne. Rick
Welch also had a full boat with Denise Malueg, Gigi MacLaughlin and her
friends Leo Marques and Elder Castiglioni.
Nabeel had wife Lura, daughter Janine and her boyfriend Steven. Jim Krest had Robin and two friends from the neighborhood,
Oliver and Jeanne. They all
love dogs—I think the dogs would have loved the sailing.
Apparently Oliver and Jeanne were so impressed with sailing with
Jim and Robin they will crew in the Fall.
Bob Wilbur couldn’t be there but loaned his boat to Don
Schregardus, who took regular crew Susan Buckley and husband Ted.
Jeff Stork brought Pat McGee and Maryann Gallagher.
Joe Warren sailed with regular crew John Hart.
Altogether, we had 29 participants, just one less than last year. We
didn’t have the elaborate desserts, (we missed you Paul) but there was
plenty of food. In fact
shish-ke-bob was roasted on the grill.
But several folks (this writer included) denied themselves the
culinary delights so they could play VOLLEYBALL.
This was the hit again this year.
There was no particular order of who was going to play with whom
for the first three games. I
was on a team that blew out the other, 11-2 and 11-2.
Could it be due to my skills?
Some players changed sides and my side got blown out 11-3.
Doubts started to creep in.
Maybe the losing side wasn’t concentrating enough.
We were distracted by a lot of shanked returns that ended up in
the patch of weeds where poison ivy lurked.
(MEMO—bring a paddle next year to retrieve the balls.)
The real truth was that it depended on whose side the PROS were
on. You see Gigi
MacLaughlin--who has played volleyball in BRAZIL--and her friends Leo,
and Elder (also highly experienced), were on my side in the first two
games. I was amazed how
well Gigi returned the ball regardless of how low it was or how far off
the side. She covered two
positions. The high quality
of play started attracting a crowd.
The sides got more evenly balanced and the scores closed up in
the 4th and 5th games.
Other players became better (I remember David Thompson serving
some winners) and I recall many returns that went back and forth 5-6
times before a winner. During
the last 3 games there were very few balls hit in the weed patch.
In the sixth game, the score was 11-9.
I was so impressed with the quality of play I got instruction
from one of the PROS in returning balls hit low. The trick is to get the
proper finger wrap and open the forearms.
(It works!) Wait
until next year. Sailing
back was a breeze--literally. With
spinnakers flying we got back in less than one hour, arriving at the
marina right on schedule. LETS
GO FOR 11 BOATS NEXT YEAR.
---Joe Warren |