That’s right, Thursday night we took first place!! And at the finish line, this gorgeous sunset was waiting for us!
Last Thursday night was amazing on the water!! The wind was around 7 knots for the race and a storm was looming near by as we arrived at the yacht club.
It was still far “enough off” to where we could try to get a race off. Pre-race action:
I might need new gloves! Wait, non-sense, these are perfectly broken in 
For most of race I kept my camera below. But after the rain lifted, I ran below and got my camera. Trust me, the pictures do not disappoint! What an amazing sunset as we raced to the finish line.
Not only does Thursday night racing gear back up with this time change but with the warmer weather so do play sails!!!
We did a couple over the winter but nothing beats shedding all those layers for some bikini, sunscreen and sailing action! Nothing better than the smell of the sea mixed with sunscreen
The first real official play sail was kicked off last weekend. 10 of us ventured out on the water to enjoy the beautiful day. Sadly, it turned out to be slightly chillier than originally planned so a light sweater was needed at some points but I still was able to work on my tan for the most part 
We spent the day sailing about the bay enjoying rum, champagne, fried chicken, and chocolate covered strawberries (Shari’s Berries, try them…LOVE THEM…DO IT!).
Always apply your sunscreen!
Party on the mid-deck
Letting Mike take over the helm. Hold on ladies and gentlemen!
Heeling the boat trying to get their butts wet
As tradition, we followed up the play sail with a visit to Estella’s, the island Mexican restaurant! Love that place and their Mango Margarita’s!
Some people get all excited when football or hockey season starts back up, I get excited when the weekly Thursday night race series start back up. Just something about spending every Thursday night out on the water sailing. Racing, rum and good friends, what more can you ask for.
The first two races were green light races. Last week we came in second place by 1 second, 1 stinking second. This past Thursday night we came in second again, by 2 seconds! Seriously! So close, so so very close to victory.
Here are some pictures from last Thursday’s race.
Race time!
Post race:
Last, last weekend (2nd and 3rd) the highs were only supposed to be in the 60s. Quite a change from this past weekend when the temp was in the high 70s or so. Florida is so all over the place.
Both days were chilly. Saturday it was blowing in the 20s and Sunday it was blowing in the high teens. Perfect for some sailing.
Saturday we had a small group of 6 of us head out for a play sail. As soon as we hit the dock it was time to pop some bottles, crank up the rap music and set sail!! I am only kidding about the rap music part.
It was a fun sail. The 6 mile leg back we got pretty soak but definitely fun! Since we didn’t have experienced crew we just feathered the boat back instead of sailing her like she was meant to be sailed.
Wrenches and Champagne!
Goofing around like we always do
After the sail though we hit up the Mexican restaurant for some Mango Margaritas and burritos!
Sunday’s sail was like a million times better than Saturday’s sail. We had the actual crew on the boat and were able to sail the boat how she liked to be sailed.
It was in the 50s so we were all bundled up in our gear. So fashionable right?!?!
Since it was wind on, the boat was heeled over and were flying. Seriously, so much fun. We didn’t care that we were getting hit with waves, which of course made us super cold!
We were having a blast out there!! We started last and ended up passing the other boats which meant we finished in first place!! Yeah, that’s right, first place baby!!!
We of course celebrated with rum drinks!!
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Last night was the last of the Full Moon races for this series. Starting in March when the time changes we go back to weekly racing.
As the race was about to start we got to see the sunset! So amazing! Leaving the dock:
Heading out to the starting area:
For the race we had clear skies with the moon shining bright!
For the last race of the series we went out on top, that’s right 1st Place!!!! They ended changing the race course mid race due to the wind starting to die out. So from the C mark, we then headed straight to the finish line. We finished in 00:56:48. The next boat finished at 01:20:35. There we some boats that were DNF due to the wind dying out.
What a great night! Follow that up with today and getting to leave work at 3pm, good way to start the weekend!
Not to mention coming home early gave me some time to play with this little guy:
Hope you guys have a great weekend!
This was my Thursday night:
Arrive at dock at 5:30, Hello Time Bandit!!
Watch sunset:
Make rum and cokes:
Enjoy said rum drink while sitting on a sailboat under the full moon:
Time to sail:
We finished up the night with 3rd place and some chicken wings up at the club house. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday night
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Jan 15
This gallery contains 6 photos.
A couple of weeks ago I sailed in the Egmont Key Regatta. <— which you can read all about it here. Today I was sent a link to another club members pictures from that race. So here are some of my favorites We are the boat on the far right with the blue and white […]
1 – J35 sail boat. 9 crew members. 51.3 miles. 10 hours.
That was the makings of the Egmont Key Regatta yesterday. There were about 30 boats in total taking part in the race. Of those 30, there were 8 in our division. Of those 8, we finished 4th.
When I arrived at the yacht club it was chilly and overcast. Looked like rain was coming. The forecast was saying it would be 72 as the high and a 20 percent chance of rain so as we left the basin, we all made sure to be geared up in our foul weather gear. Granted I borrowed some foul weather pants and my friend is slightly taller than me so they didn’t really work out but at least I had them if the conditions got too bad.
So we were geared up, the boat was geared up and we were ready to do some racing!!!
Pre-race:
It wasn’t long before the clouds lifted and the sun came out shining!! It ended up getting pretty toasty for most of the sail so all the layers of gear to stay warm didn’t stay on too long.
The sun stayed out the rest of the day, no rain. Got to see a lot of dolphins, take a nap on the rail and enjoy the sail. Pretty relaxing for the most part. Yeah. there was some racing in there too
My favorite shot of the day was taken as we were approaching the Skyway Bridge.
As the sun was starting to set it got chilly again so had to throw the layers back on to stay warm. It was also around this time that the crew starting enjoying some rum drinks! I actually didn’t have any rum! I know, crazy right?!?!?!
We ended up getting back around 7:30 last night. A lot better than the midnight or 1am time frame that we thought was going to happen. As we approached the basin, we could hear the club jamming out to music. There were tents set up at the point, where I will assume the chili was?!?!
Not sure on that, I can say from the sounds of it, there was a pretty solid party going on. After the boat was cleaned up, I headed home instead of heading over to the party. I had some very important people I wanted to get home to!!!
Hope you all had a fabulous weekend as well
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I open this post with this because this is happening right now!! May I add it is delicious!!!
It was much appreciated after another busy, and highly successful day at work. Granted it will be only one glass. Tomorrow will be a very LONG day on a sail boat and I want to make sure I am well rested for it. Hung over doesn’t sound appealing.
Tomorrow I’m racing in the Egmont Key race!
Compliments of the yacht clubs website: “The Egmont Key race is the longest running regatta in the Tampa Bay area. Since 1935, this distance race from Davis Island Yacht Club to Egmont Key and back has attracted top sailors in the area. In keeping with long-standing tradition, chili will be served to competitors by the DIYC Commodore upon their return to the Club….no matter how late!”
Boat time is around 9-ish and we should wrap up anywhere from 10 to 12 hours, possibly even later. Not sure after that long of racing I will feel like hanging around for a bowl of chili. More than likely I will be ready to hurry home and curl up in the greatest bed in the entire world
Tonight though I packed my sailing bag with some essentials for tomorrow. Boat shoes, gloves, foul weather gear and of course, some sunscreen and various other necessities.
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