“Is that a J-24 there?”  “I think its a J-32”  “No, that’s a 24”  “Yeah, Yeah”  “They’ve got some good wind.”  “Should we go after them?”  “Yeah, but I want to get upwind of them and stay in that good wind.”  “Definitely…do you think you can point above them.”  “Are you kidding, these boards are toed in…we can get  ’em”

And the hunt was on.  The prey this time was a big yellow J-boat that wasn’t really looking for a race.  What do you expect? Put Jeff and Maggie in an I-20 together and they are going to get serious really fast, especially when they see a racing boat trimmed up for speed.   You see…these two are competitors with long racing resumes.  Jeff and Maggie will tell you they have other priorities now.

All that falls away pretty fast when you put a spread of canvas above them and they hook their toes under hiking straps.    Me too.  June 16 was unseasonably mild. Beautiful easterlies made for long runs up and down river.  We skimmed along the Old Town Alexandria docks and looked at the people looking at the boat.  On our return, we popped the chute and saw 8 knots.

Back at the dock I mentioned how I was feeling like a sailing stalker…with my many appeals to get onto the water with these two fine sailers.  No, they both said, keep calling.