Stardate 12079.5

Captain's Log: Stardate 12079.5
Yesterday marked the first time since February that the Enterprise raced, and only the second time here just outside the Venice Inlet. The winds were often well over 15 and we did not have enough crew on board to do things right. In addition to me and Ellen, we had Andy, a great-loop powerboater, and Tom, who usually sails on the club boat, Joy, but decided to come with us when their skipper imposed a masks-while-racing mandate.

The day started with a rather contentious skipper's meeting as our Fleet Captain Racing, Goree, laid out some of the new rules, much to the displeasure of one particular skipper. Thankfully he stood (and whined) alone. Kudos to Goree for taking the initiative and doing things right.

Joining me at the meeting was Glenn Vitaglione, who moved down here from City Island a year or two before we did, and admits he was pretty surprised to see the Enterprise in her Venice slip. Glenn could not join us racing yesterday due to another appointment, but he hopes to get on board again soon. I remember Glenn being on board the Enterprise during a City Island race many years before, having fun, and proudly exclaiming. "We're sailing through the Neutral Zone!"

In our division, we had us, Fruition, Raegan-e, Spray and Joy. I immediately took a liking to Raegan-e, as she looks like a well-kept boat, and I thought she was named after, in some way, Ronald Reagan. Our starts (pursuit starting here) were very close to each other and at one point, Raegan-e came our way from windward to try and foul us. "Leeward boat!" i exclaimed.

Then he exclaimed, "Leeward boat!"

Huh?

After a few seconds, he said he forgot what "leeward" was and apologized. No harm, no foul, and, in the end, a good laugh and light-hearted way to start a series.

As for Spray, I'm not sure why the boat is named Spray other than, perhaps, a call for a can of RAID or possibly some wild form of explosive diarhrea. Nevertheless, I give credit where it's due and they sailed well, only losing second place by five seconds.

Fruition dominated the day, even though they were short-handed as well. We, on the other hand, were dealing with some mechanical issues, difficulty getting sails trimmed being just plain overpowered with too few people on board. Nevertheless, with our main luffing and the jib undertrimmed, it did feel great to blast past Joy at Warp 6.3 within a few yards of the finish line and claim our fourth.

With such a strong east-north-easterly, we had some real trouble getting off the dock (new stanchion and support are on order) and pulling back in. With a few repairs and some much-needed lubrication to do, I think we'll be ready to try this again next week. We should have Glenn, Dave Cook, and perhaps Tom and Andy again, but I think I need to put in some effort to gain a regular crew who will get to know the inner-workings of the Enterprise.

Perhaps I can also work on getting Captain Dave Beaver fired from his job so he loses his house and has to move down here from New York for good. Hmmmm....