I brought my boat down to the water at 11:00 and started to unload the gear from the car.  I hadn’t been there more than a minute when one of the dock crew approached me asking if I needed any help.  No, I replied, not now, but in a little while, I’ll be ready to move the boat from the trailer to the beach dolly.  After I had my things ready, I got the crew to help with transferring the boat and stepping the mast.

        Next on the scene, Sandy shows up, offering advice on setting up the mast. He went over my whole set-up – mast rake. shroud tension, jib luff, etc.  His advice must have been good.  No DFL’s.

        The committee boat fired right up, and Bart ran it out to set up a course.  A couple of hundred yards off shore, he reported that there was very little wind.  We had him drop a mark there and another about one half mile to the southeast. and then wait.  After about a half an hour, a little breeze came up off the Lake, and we decided to launch.

The current Beaufort Scale describes Force 2 as a Light Breeze, 4-6 knots:

At   Sea      Small wavelets, glassy crests, no breaking.

On Land    Wind felt on face, Leaves rustle, vanes begin to turn.

        There was a wind shift not too far out beyond the starting pin.  The best way to describe it might be by its effect on the the downwind leg.  A rhumb-line course had the relative wind on the beam until just short of the finish line, where it became a wing & wing run.  The windward leg was almost a fetch, long starboard tacks and short ports.  Wind shifts are to be expexted this close to shore, but the skies were threatening, and we didn’t want to be out very far on the Lake.

        In the first race, Josh & Jim Law went left, while Tom Law, Bill, Andrew, & Jim Fairman went right.  Those who went right after the start must have found some stronger wind; they were all ahead at the first mark.  Andrew and Bill rounded together and accompanied each other downwind.  Andrew blanketed Bill and got the advantage, but Bill escaped in the wind shift, and squeezed ahead at the finish.

        Jim Law had to catch a flight to Switzerland, so he went in before the second race.  Jim Fairman and his daughter, Jenny, took their places accompanying Josh starting out on the long starboard tack.  Bill took a couple of short tacks up the middle before striking out on starboard.  Tom and Andrew went right on port tack.  This time, those who started out on the long starboard tack were rewarded, and finished way ahead.

        Towards the end of the second race, it was getting noticeably darker.  A low overcast kept us from seeing just what kind of cloud formations were approaching from the west.  We decided to call it a day and head in.  Rain started coming down just as we neared the shore, let up while we put away our boats, and then came down in earnest.