Sail - Esther, Port of Edmonds Marina

You can set a great race course, but if there is no wind, there won't be a race.  The crew and I met at 5PM to get out and set the course marks and anchor Ether the Race Committee (RC) boat for the CYC Edmonds' Summer Series Wednesday evening race.  Experienced crew members Laura and Kyle were joined by freshly minted crew Rick.  Laura had even helped out with RC during a race last year.  We were loaded with buoys, anchors, flags, and the "football" briefcase of paperwork and instructions. Diligently we set the upwind mark off the Edmond's off-leash beach, then motored South.  "How deep is your keel?" was asked.  "About five feet.  Why do you ask?"  "I can see the bottom."  Oh, that shallow, eh?  Though it was probably plenty deep for most boats keels, it was a little unnerving having crabs wave at us.  I slowed down a little, just in case we hit a bump.  Setting the start/finish mark, then anchoring Esther, we got the flags and course board ready.  To the North boats started to motor down.  But even then the waters of the Puget Sound were smooth. 

Too smooth. And moderate drizzle became less moderate and more drizzle.  We put up the "Cat in the Hat" Delay flag and I set my alarm for 15 minutes. Then another 15. We ate sandwiches and chatted. The rain fell, the wind stayed away.

The J-Boat "Whitecap" was probably the only boat light and sporty enough to make a complete course lap today.

One more 15 minute delay came and went.  One of the seven racing boats was heading North, probably giving up. A quick conference with a very experienced skipper on a racer and we called it a night.  After alerting the rest of the racers by VHF, we squared away and pulled anchor.  At the windward mark we began raising and a harbor seal came fairly close.  Might have been annoyed we were taking his new toy away.  After stowing all the gear we made it back to the dock and stowed the RC equipment at the CYC Edmonds' container. Though we didn't get any races off, we had been quite on the spot about setting the the course gear.  And crew spirits were up the whole time regardless.  Thanks to Laura, Kyle, and Rick for coming out tonight and hopefully we will all be able to sail together again in the future.