Tanzer 16, First Race of 2017, 4 boats and lightening

Tanzer 16, First Race of 2017, 4 boats and lightening -- May 5, 2017 -- There are old sailors and there are bold sailors.  It seems there are also lucky sailors.  The weather was great until 1300--then the humidity rose sharply; the clouds built up quickly.   It was certain that a rare Puget Sound thunderstorm was on its way.  (Once spent a very long summer at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri --  I know what a thunderstorm feels like and how it smells when it is building.)

By 1500 it was rumbling all over the county and by 1600 trees were falling and power was going out. We make our go no go decision for racing about 1630.  I am willing to sail in the rain. I am willing to sail in rain and too much wind (up to a point) and I am willing to sail in rain with no wind.  I am not willing to sit on the water with a 23-foot aluminum stick up in the air during a lightening storm.  (A day later, the news said that a motorcycle rider was hit by lightening and killed during the peak of the storm.)

There was lots of chatter all afternoon on email -- "Go?"  "No go?"  "Maybe I will go down do the dock and see."

This strike was a couple of miles south of our race course.

In the end four dinghies showed up along with the committee boat.  They found a little crack in the storm and got in three races.

I think Garner Miller took this picture.  I was home
waiting for the lights to go out.

In the words of Fleet Captain, Jim Findley, "4 brave diehard sailors got in 3 dinghy races between the lightning storms. There is a thin line between brave and stupid. I THINK  we were on the brave side of the line.  Jim."

A picture taken later in the evening -- after the race, shown below.  So we are starting the first series with a DNS and at least 15 points at five points per race -- Oh well, it was the right decision for us.

Posted by KOMO-TV.