SIDE VIEW

There’s a scene from a movie that’s always stuck in my mind. A guy gets into a sports car, about to start a long-distance, cross-country race. He grabs the rear-view mirror and tearing it from the mount, says "What’s behind you is not important." While on a boat ride on the Sea of Abaco recently, the skipper of the boat I was on made the comment "Don’t ever turn back." The only time I can totally agree with those is when the fog comes in unexpectedly.

In the case of the race car driver, he doesn’t want to concentrate on those drivers behind him to keep from losing his concentration on what’s ahead. In the case of the Bahamian skipper, I’m still working on what he meant, but we did spend a very tense thirty minutes anchored about twelve feet to windward of some NASTY looking rocks while pondering the mysteries of large outboard engines. I don’t recall how the driver did in his movie race, but I’m happy to say we survived the engine problems. (Okay, is it me, or am I starting to be surrounded by engine problems...............)

I’d like to thank all the folks that participated in the programs this past year. Sometimes it’s not easy to come up with something that will be entertaining, instructional, and pique the interest of a VERY diverse club. Although the "head count" for each of the programs I came up with varied, the common thread was interest. Whatever the subject matter, the audience interest was high. If not in number, then in intensity. I expect next year should be the same, only different.

Speaking of next year, I understand there is a number of boats that are gearing up for a trip to the Abacos for Race Week next summer. From what I’ve been told, there’s about ten boats involved. If you’ve never been to the islands, and you have a boat capable of making the crossing (keeping in mind the vagaries of weather prediction), this would be a perfect time for you to sail across in the company of other sailors. While we plan for every contingency, there is always confidence in seeing the folks that can help you if you need it.

Speaking of contingencies, I’ve noticed that some of our more hard core racers have become a little lax in their following of the rules and I was wondering if it might be a good time to reinstate random inspections within the racing fleet to insure compliance with the rules on equipment. It’s one thing to remove the cushions from the berths to conserve weight, but it’s totally another to remove the batteries for the same purpose. This type of corner-cutting can only lead to, at best, hard feelings and at worst, tragic results. Whether or not you agree with what I propose, it is still our responsibility to the national governing board (US SAILING) to see to it that our races are run within the letter of the rules.

Now, having tossed that nugget out onto the firing range, I’m going to climb back into the bilge of LAUREL ANN to wait until the cross-firing has stopped. There’s a whole bundle of wiring down there that I’ve not identified and have been wondering where it goes and what it does......

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