It all started so innocently three years ago. The inlaws took the Kid to their house for a week to participate in a summer sailing program. My father in law sailed off and on again since before he could walk and thought the Kid would like to sail. Heck, we live on the bay and getting a small sailboat is cheap. Yes, the boat is cheap. It's the rest that adds up. If it weren't for family and friends all over this great state this summer sailing adventure would not be possible. So this post is dedicated to all of you, the weekend housing units. Thank you for letting us crash your house, coming and going at random hours, with gear galore, and little time for actual visits. Thank you.
Summer sailing now begins in February, which we missed because it rained and rained and rained. Yeah, one less traveling weekend and a three-hour road trip. Next was in March, four hours away. Not having been to a lake event ever, the Kid was up for a new experience. Lake sailing is nothing at all like bay sailing. They say the wind shifts. Wind is good. Too bad there was no wind this weekend. Poor thing, look how bored he is.
April and May was a no go because the event is more than six hours away. Kid, I love you but there is no amount of love for that kind of traveling. Sorry. June came with not one but two events. One was another four-hour road trip to a lake I have never been too. It was breathtaking. Even at 50+ feet below average, the lake was brilliantly blue and clear.
This was also the first event where we camped. It was a true experience. These kids are a family unit. They are so few sailors they grow up together even though they live literally all across this state. This event was held in the middle of Texas and gets the largest draw. After the race day is over, there is food and games, pool time and beach time. It is a great bonding time that has nothing to do with the race results. Friends on shore, competitors on water.
Race weekends are exhausting. Most families arrive Friday anywhere from mid-morning to the wee hours of the next morning. The race begins are 930am or 1000am but races have to start preparing at by 730am. Races last until sometimes four or five in the afternoon and the races still have to de-rig before leaving/eating/etc... Sunday starts at 830a, or 900am and ends usually by 300pm or 4pm much to the parent's dismay. If a race ends at say 3pm, it is a good two - two and a half hours before parents can leave. Then there is the drive home. Have to give the Kid credit, he held in all weekend, never once complaining, not even when his face or burger was burnt. So tired...
June ended with a closer to home race. Only 1.5 hours away. This location is similar to home environments in such that the winds blows across the bay anywhere from 15pmh-25mph. This weekend the wind was pushing closer to 30mph gusts.
Another thing similar to our home environment is the level of rust. At the local park down the street, the safety chains across the emergency entrance had so many different levels of rust it was hard to image that they were not brittle to the touch. Not wanting the chains to break under my watch, I strayed from handling them. I so badly wanted to touch them.
Fourth of July week always presents a race event lasting three or four days instead of just the weekend. This year we were fortunate the event was held yet again where family lives. Nestled among hundred-year-old oak trees, on one of the walking paths, was this dying cicada. Dozens of children, their parents, and their boats being pulled back and forth yet here this fantastic creature sat.
The other nice thing about crashing with family and friends are real meals. Not sandwiches or fast food. Real home cooked meals. The Kid loves to visit grandma because she has a zoodler. Dinner: sweet potato zoodle enchiladas. Yum.
In preparation for our local held sailing event, the club gave us their Hurricane Harvey broken sailboat. A sunfish, not an Opti like the Kid sails, this boat was salvaged just for parts. The Planner participates in a local summer sunfish series. Races are every Tuesday all summer long. It is fun. Five to ten racers ages 8-80 where they are more concerned about having fun than finishing. Don't get me wrong, if needed, they can be very competitive.
Between races at random moments, when not working on the Work Box, school work! School work around here is a Dr. Suess book. School work in the summer, school work in the nonsummer. School work in the moring, school work in the evening. School work at home, school work in the car. In fact the only time there is no school work is the weekend of races. There is simply no time.
When not racing, there are weekly practices...
sailing days with the Planner on his sunfish...
and sailing our friend's trimaran boat.
Seriously at the end of summer with only one race left coming up in November we were done, done, done. Today was a great day for sailing. The wind was calm and it was not terribly hot. When asked if he wanted to sail, the Planner took a nap. When the Kid was asked, well looks say it all...
Three years ago when life was simple.