DOWNRIVER CRUISE—2002

Fleet 50’s second annual Downriver Social Cruise to Ft. Foote was held on June 23.  Again this year we were blessed by nearly ideal winds of 7-9 kt. to our anchorage, and about the same on the return.  With no chance of thunderstorms, there was no need for a PRSA power boat delighting this writer who was the designated operator.  Temp. was about 90, and due to the nice breeze, didn’t seem hot.   The anchoring area was easy to find—the park service had cleaned up the beach area.  The park ranger we coordinated with last year was amazed and excited that people would actually sail to the park.  He promised a cleanup for this year’s event.  When we left the marina about 10:15 the winds from the Southeast made for long port tacks.  It took only a little over one hour to get there.  On the way back the wind shifted to the southwest; this made for a long spinnaker run all the way to marina.  We returned right on schedule about 5:00 PM.

This year’s cruise was opened to all PRSA members; but oddly, only Hank Krafft and Lee Banic, Penguin sailors came with us.  They sailed with Frank.  We were hoping to see more. With 8 boats we fell a little short of our goal of 10, but Drew Hudson was sidelined due to back surgery; and, Paul Maher and Ben Kuykendall still hadn’t returned from the Annapolis to Bermuda race they participated in.  Both participated last year. 

With David Thompson were wife Barbara, crew Joe Kimak and Joe’s daughters Caitlin and Adrienne.  Rick Welch also had a full boat with Denise Malueg, Gigi MacLaughlin and her friends Leo Marques and Elder Castiglioni.  Nabeel had wife Lura, daughter Janine and her boyfriend Steven.  Jim Krest had Robin and two friends from the neighborhood, Oliver and Jeanne.  They all love dogs—I think the dogs would have loved the sailing.   Apparently Oliver and Jeanne were so impressed with sailing with Jim and Robin they will crew in the Fall.  Bob Wilbur couldn’t be there but loaned his boat to Don Schregardus, who took regular crew Susan Buckley and husband Ted.  Jeff Stork brought Pat McGee and Maryann Gallagher.  Joe Warren sailed with regular crew John Hart.  Altogether, we had 29 participants, just one less than last year.

We didn’t have the elaborate desserts, (we missed you Paul) but there was plenty of food.  In fact shish-ke-bob was roasted on the grill.  But several folks (this writer included) denied themselves the culinary delights so they could play VOLLEYBALL.  This was the hit again this year.  There was no particular order of who was going to play with whom for the first three games.   I was on a team that blew out the other, 11-2 and 11-2.  Could it be due to my skills?   Some players changed sides and my side got blown out 11-3.  Doubts started to creep in.  Maybe the losing side wasn’t concentrating enough.  We were distracted by a lot of shanked returns that ended up in the patch of weeds where poison ivy lurked.  (MEMO—bring a paddle next year to retrieve the balls.)  The real truth was that it depended on whose side the PROS were on.  You see Gigi MacLaughlin--who has played volleyball in BRAZIL--and her friends Leo, and Elder (also highly experienced), were on my side in the first two games.  I was amazed how well Gigi returned the ball regardless of how low it was or how far off the side.  She covered two positions.  The high quality of play started attracting a crowd.   The sides got more evenly balanced and the scores closed up in the 4^th and 5^th games.  Other players became better (I remember David Thompson serving some winners) and I recall many returns that went back and forth 5-6 times before a winner.  During the last 3 games there were very few balls hit in the weed patch.   In the sixth game, the score was 11-9.   I was so impressed with the quality of play I got instruction from one of the PROS in returning balls hit low. The trick is to get the proper finger wrap and open the forearms.  (It works!)  Wait until next year.

Sailing back was a breeze--literally.  With spinnakers flying we got back in less than one hour, arriving at the marina right on schedule.