A Peachy Dandy sailboat race ends with a towboat

HAZLITT BEACH, Hector, New York, USA - The 2009 Peachy Dandy Sailboat Race started with the sharp report of a starting gun and the Red Rocket sailboat second over the line, only to find (about an hour and a half later) that the wind had dropped to zero and the race, alas, was over.

But it was a grand race for the first hour or so, with the usual tacking duels. As crew, my sister-in-law Beth Crosby handled the jib and kept us on course, spotting the marker buoys. At the first mark we rounded the buoy soooooo close we nearly snagged its anchor with our centerboard, but in doing so pushed ahead of our main competitor and felt pretty smug, for a few minutes anyway.

It was my first race in the Red Rocket and the conditions (light wind) were good for the vessel, not so good for the heavier displacement boats in the race. Still, when the race committee (like retired prizefighter Roberto Duran) cried out, No Mas, No Mas, Beth and I were happy to head back to shore (under tow) where pitchers of blended Peachy Dandy cocktails waited.


Jockeying at the start


Red Rocket being towed in


Red Rocket crew with champagne prize



The 2009 Peachy Dandy Race won't go down as a memorable one for sailing, but as a social event, it was over the top with great food, great drinks (what I remember anyway) music and fun meeting with Hector neighbors, some of whom we only see at the annual party, thrown by the Hazlitt family. And as an added nice touch, my cousin Kathleen McAvoy from Virginia - the first person I ever sailed with - was on hand on our pontoon boat with Adm. Fox, helping with emergencies - and towing during the race.

Our Canadian amiga Laura (who left earlier this week) has already put in her request to stay with us during Peachy Dandy time next year, both to crew and party, I suppose.


A table of Schamels with friends


Party in full swing on the beach

Today, dealing with the after effects of Peachy Dandiness, the lake was flat again, temperatures were up near 90 degrees and we declared another SLAD (Seneca Lake Appreciation Day).

So instead of staying home and rereading the back of the Bayer aspirin bottle, we headed out again for another day of boating adventure, meeting up with amigos all over the lake, including Barney and Marsha on their pontoon boat and Eric and Tina Hazlitt who were cleaning up the beach area from the party. And, of course, we took Arnold the Wonder Dog, who declined an invite to swim, but did allow people to pour cups of lake water on him.

We went to the middle of the lake, turned off the engine and swam in the lake water that is getting close to 80 degrees. Ok, maybe 75-80, but is was very refreshing and relatively warm - the warmest of the summer.


Admiral Fox tries to convince Arnold to jump in

The good news is that the forecast for tomorrow is for another scorcher - probably in the mid 90s - and that we are planning another SLAD. The bad news is we went through the entire beer and ice supply today and need to go to the store in the morning.

We'll cope.

One week into summer and the boats are already set to go

VALOIS, New York, USA - Except for the cold weather, it was a very soft landing coming from subtropical Arroyo Seco, Jalisco, Mexico to here one week ago today. The house was clean, virtually everything worked okay, and already we have three boats ready to go.

Three boats?

Yes, three boats. We already had the Spirit of Louise pontoon boat, the Bud Boat (a gift from Mike Schamel several years ago. And two days ago we added a 16-foot fiberglass sailboat of which I am co-owner (and which is nameless, right now). The other owner is Jennifer Marshall, an amiga from Arizona who comes to Seneca Lake summers and who last year told me she wanted to learn how to sail but needed to buy a boat and find someone to teach her and ...

Somehow, that all translated into us purchasing a boat together, and voila, we now have a boat.


Sailing in to shore under jib alone

I took the ship on a quick trip today to shake down everything. I think we may have purchased a very fast boat. The wind was almost non-existent and yet the boat scooted along at 5 mph. I checked the hull thoroughly for poltergeists, but it seems clean.



Since my last cranky blog post from the Philadelphia Airport, I have to admit that we have had nothing but good experiences - even with various officialdom sorts of persons. In one instance, we had to go to the Schuyler County clerk's office to look up some information and one of the workers dropped everything to help us for nearly and hour.

And on private side, our amigo Bill Tague sold us a car and has been laboring mightily for several days to fix every little thing. It's another Jeep, though not nearly as nice as last year's version. Still, it will get us through the summer and someone here is likely to get a heck of a deal on it when we sell it in August.

The hot tub is full (and hot) the wine locker full (and cold) and the rest of things seem to be falling into place before the first of several waves of amigo visitors arrives in a few days.

And we now have three boats to choose from for voyaging, if the weather cooperates and we get more summer days.