Thursday, January 1, 2009

Rob Gretchell(Ben's big brother) was the first sailor on Lake Eustis in 2009 and in a Laser. He had a full rig and was easily the swimming and diving champion.The wind was us up but probably a little off yesterday but the wind was out of the East so we had the smooth water and big shifts and strange puffs that come off our shore.YES, WE DID HAVE THE FIRST RACES OF 2009. We had six boats out with four 4.7s that did most of the racing.Ben Getchell wins the last race of 2008 (See the notes from yesterday) and the first race of 2009. Actually he won two races today (Thursday) and then Luke Yates stopped fooling around and Luke won the last race holding off Ben with a nice loose cover.Ray Laguna had his red boat in and sailed with both the full rig and later the 4.7.Patrick Daniel sailed with his full rig and is getting used to the big shifts from the full hike position.Coach Craig Yates had the soft yellow youth foundation boat going pretty well.that boat is pretty fast in light wind but is hard to drive in heavier stuff.There was one MC out (I don't know who) and Phil Eckland unpacked his MC scow and red kayaks.Marjorie Chapin and Randy Boekema managed the spectator crowd. DO NOT FORGET THAT REAL RACING IS THIS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.We should have someone at First Friday which is tomorrow, so if you are in Eustis stop by and talk sailing with the tourists.