The northern hemisphere is showing signs of summer's close with leaves turning to golds, purples and browns, the sun rising later and setting earlier, and sailors begining to think about winterizing their boats, but fortunately we all created enough summer sailing memories to help sustain us through the cooler (and in many cases a lot colder) off-season. To help your Summer Sailstice memories live on, here's a round up of some of this year's Sailstice Celebrations.
Kevin sails a Cal-31 named "Kona" and has been sailing the Sailstice for 8 years. Kevin and his fellow sailors at the Nevada Yacht Club sail on Lake Mead, near Las Vegas. "Yes we sail in the desert! It is either dull or dangerous!"
Frank & Evelyn from Muncie Sailing Club, Indiana enjoyed some fast sailing on a “pretty gusty day”. "Landlocked in Indiana we were having pretty high winds so a few brave souls ventured out on Main sail only. We had a great time and a fun ride on the wild wind and waves at Prairie Creek reservoir. We had plans for a Funnyman regatta for Sunday and picnic. The winds were even higher on Sunday so we had a picnic and postponed the Funnyman Regatta until a later date."
Randy sailed on San Francisco Bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge! "Saw loads of whales off Baker Beach."
Charles & Susan Wetherup from Cayuga Lake Cruising Fleet are winners of a Navionics 2GB Custom Chart. Apparently the weather gods weren't so kind this year as the weather was so "awful" that only two boats took to the water."...and then, on the way back from lunch, we got caught in a 50kt squall. But... It was good and we (obviously) survived."
Captain Kirk (no this is not Star Trek), aka, Gary Kirkham from Lake Canyon Yacht Club told us that Summer Sailstice provides a great launching pad for their annual Leukemia Cup Regatta, which this year raised over $45,000. "Our core group consists of five couples but we've probably involved around 40 or 50 additional people in planning and organizing the various activities. Everybody has something they want to add and we encourage and support their creativity." Gary and the club's sailing band, the Jolly Roger Pluckers, won a Blue, Glow-in-the-Dark Waterman Ukulele from Kala Brand Music in this year's Sea Shanty Shake, and are already preparing for next year's event. "We plan to start getting our act together and start practicing for 2018 as soon as the afternoon temperatures drop below 104. We will keep you posted on our progress."
Share your Summer Sailstice memories with us, so we can share with the rest of the Sailstice community and help keep the sailing memories alive!
In the meantime, it's never to early to start getting ready for next year. Get on board now and Sign up for Summer Sailstice 2018 to be sure that you've renewed your registration.
