Is that the fat lady singing?

[Ken Smith]

Well, I am pretty sure the season is done, Thunder Bay possibly excepted.  So for the newbies and procrastinators, I highly recommend a few days in the shop this spring to be ready for the fall.

Is the bag of parts, wires, and tools all together and put away?  (NO.  Missing wires!  order now...)

All runners sharp and edges oiled to last the summer?  Even 440C is an austinitic steel, and will rust.

Any stud plates or hull plates loose, fix them now!

Store your masts withe the fore-aft axis vertical.  In my garage rafters, it gets warm, and a mast stored on its side might well sag.

Boats touched up and covered?  Saw dust likely to be everywhere by fall.

[Ken Smith]

Season wrap-up:

It was a great December here in the west.  Western challenge, and 2010 Western Regionals on Winnebago.  Sailed on four lakes getting ready.

It was a fair January, Western regionals on Mendota, weekend sailing on some little lake in central Illinois, in case we needed a back up for the Worlds, a week of sailing in Menominee area, and almost the worlds there.  Then the rush to Peru (that back-up lake, thanks Pete) for a two day Worlds and no NAs. Then snow.  Hosting a Brit, seven Poles, three Swedes and a Hungarian was a highlight.  Frankly, would rather have sailed with them, but visiting was nice.

February was awful.  Snow, then ice but no wind.  I spent two days not sailing on three occasions on three lakes... and paid access fees on one of them.

First for me:  No sailing on the LP of Michigan, Indiana, or Ohio.  Usually there are at least two great weekends with the guys there.  No Lake Geneva Club races for me.  No sailing on Lake Geneva at all, except a few sucker puffs on three different days.