Champagne Race & Willsboro Rendezvous........Dave Kelton
The 2nd resurrection of the Champagne Race was held July 27th. In all, we ended up with about 12 boats, give or take. Early in the day it looked like it would be a rainout, but the sky broke and the day ended up perfect, with partly sunny skies and winds out of the south about 16 knots. Once the boats came out of the bay, the speeds really climbed as it was a simple broad reach over to Willsboro. With such easy sailing Pat and I enjoyed a drink and lunch along the way. It was the fastest I ever saw That’s It! travel, at one point chugging along over 7 knots. Everyone else had figured out the generous handicap given for hauling dinghies , so we were far behind the pack. Wingdam claimed the top prize, finishing in under 3 hours. The rest of the fleet finished close behind, with the last boat being Bill Aldrich in his Chris Craft. We had a great raft up , with a visit from a heron that decided to jump onto the back of Secrets. Never saw that before! The party moved onto land and the presentations of Champagne commenced around 5PM. Afterwards all feasted on chicken and burgers, the party breaking up around 7PM. The lake by this time had turned into glass, just perfect for sleeping . This was the first night I did not hear the train go by, I guess Amtrak must be cutting back on service. The morning brought on another south wind, which had built to 18knots by 7:30AM. We picked up and left early, arriving back at the club by 9AM. It gave us some practice on navigation due to the heavy fog on the broad lake. It’s always nice traveling early, with the dew still heavy, the lake deserted, and the sun just beginning to climb through the sky. The next rendezvous is Converse Bay, set for the 17th of August. Hope to see all there, Dave and Pat Kelton
1. Wingdam
2. Gulf Wind
3. Out of the Blue
4. Secrets
5. Radiant
6. Maria
7. Outer Limits
8. "Bob's Tartan"
9. Summer Snow
10. That's It!
11. Pekalee
12. Bill Aldrich