Saturday, May 25 through Monday, May 27, 2013 FMGOS (Full Moon Guaranteed on Saturday)
The BOC, US MDWOC aims to make this a refined and intellectual Weekend with the following proposed events:
Saturday early evening, because some of us want to get settled on our anchors while it's still light :
DINING and congratulations and toasts and reunions and videos and pictures On the Beach.
Pirate's Pie
Sheeesh K-Bobs
During the Sunday morning calm, or any other calm:
RAFT-UP circle/daisy. After the boats are neatly arranged in the circle/daisy, Cucumber Sandwiches and other delights will be passed around the circle.
RECORDING THE EVENT
When the V L raft-up is in place, pictures or videos from on high should be produced.
These can be captured by small, spry people up masts—v. tall masts;
from balloons tethered to several boats around the circle/daisy;
from a kite dangling someone's old video camera. Maybe several cameras.
Sky Cam -- Borrowed frrom Mile High Football Stadium
Raft-Up Surveillance Kite Cam
Kite Cam Remote Control Operator
I'm sure if every one of us brought two or three grocery store balloons we could hoist quite a load of cameras. The Committee happens to know that Dusty is a video production guy and also that there are excellent tech guys in the group who can deal with these issues. Remote control would be good.
A RACE, the particulars to be announced by the Fast Sailors, will probably take place Sunday about in time for the afternoon gales and squalls.
Along with and during all the aforementioned Events the Organizing Committee would particularly like to see:
As many Heron refugees as possible
Jeff the very-small-boat sailor and cop
Flipper
A PARADE UP RIVER, if feasible
As many SMALL BOATS as we can get
Flags
WATER BALLOONS
Lights
Spectacles and outlandish behavior
WATER FIGHTS
Contests of skill and daring
Long-distance swimming
The Committee admits it has not thought of or has forgot many possible fun and challenging activities, and asks for suggestions, and for solutions to the many problems attendant on all these pleasant endeavors.
Objections, changes, improvements, opinions will all be welcomed and accepted.
SBS,
*MDWOC
**BOAC, US
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*(Memorial Day Weekend Oversight Committee)
**(Bang On A Can)
Click "Read more" for photos of past BOC Memorial Day Weekend Activities
Here's something we're adding to the BOC website. It's a LIVE model of the wind flow over the United States. It's an artistic presentation. It is NOT a meteorological tool but it is too good not to share with those of us here who think sailing is an ART.
Wind Map - An Art Project from Hint.fm
Here's some descriptive commentary from the hint.fm website:
Surface wind data comes from the National Digital Forecast Database. These are near-term forecasts, revised once per hour. So what you're seeing is a living portrait. (See the NDFD site for precise details; our timestamp shows time of download.) And for those of you chasing top wind speed, note that maximum speed may occur over lakes or just offshore.
The wind map is a personal art project, not associated with any company. We've done our best to make this as accurate as possible, but can't make any guarantees about the correctness of the data or our software. Please do not use the map or its data to fly a plane, sail a boat, or fight wildfires :-)
To view the wind map click on the "Wind Map" link in the main menu on the left hand side of the page (that would be the port side).
Well, just a quick note to share the weekend of sailing. Sandy & I headed up for an overnighter and met up with Dusty & Kathleen. They were tidying up that new Blue Frog. What a nice boat, great sails, and a great crew...
Saturday was a bit windy so we all holed up in Toni cove and enjoyed some music, the changing/windy weather, and just caught up on every subject imaginable. Just nice to be on the lake, on the boats. Just before sunset we crossed the lake threw the anchor down in Devil Duck and the winds died down just as Dusty had predicted. It was a great night, a little on the cool side, but any night on the hook was good.
Lots of baby ducks that scoot out of the way as you sail by. They make a racket, but don't have enough wings to do anything more than run across the water bumping their butts as they go and try to fly....
After sleeping in, we got out sailing about 10am. The winds were light and we sailed from ghosting to 2-3 knots and headed up river because there is always wind up river. The log boom was in the middle of the river and did not obstruct our path. We slid up river with the wind at our backs doing 2-4 knots and just as we turned around he wind shifted to be at our backs. That lasted about halfway back up the river then the winds started picking up and allowed a little tacking to get back out. Just enough sailing.
Sandy & I stopped at Tortilla Peak (it is now open) to pick up a driftwood log for our pond so our new turtle would have a place to rest. The Corpse has thoughtfully pushed all the debris at the launch ramp to the side making a nice pile of driftwood.
Anyway, winds picked up substantially about 2 pm and it would have been an epic day but for us we called it a day. Very pleasant Sunday, slowly sailing the fickle Cochiti winds. Sunny and 75 degrees, water is about 55 degrees. Spring winds are still here...
Great to be back at Cochiti. Maybe I am jaded because I have sailed there for almost 10 years, but it feels like home. See you all there.
As a young kid in Corpus Christi, I learned the joy of sailing early and vowed I'd have my own boat by the age of 15. That didn't happen til I was 62, and for seven years I have enjoyed my little boat, aptly named Opa's Dream. Family health situations make it difficult for me to go sailing, so it's time to say goodbye to the Dream. She's a 13 foot sailing dory, wood hull, lap straked. Skeg instead of a keel or centerboard. Dusty has sailed her.
Excellent Ulmer jib and main, brand new Minn Kota trolling motor. Can easily be trailered, rigged and sailed by one person. Some of you saw me on Father's Day sailing with my two daughters. Lots of PFD's.
Intrinsically, she is worth about $250,000, but if you have $1000 to invest in a lot of fun, contact me at my email address:
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BOC Floating Headquarters being removed. (Sept. 2011)
Dwindling BOC Ranks Evacuate
The dwindling BOC ranks have been leaving Cochiti Lake in waves... waves of trucks pulling trailer loads of sailboats behind them. The first wave of ex-pat BOCers migrated south to Elephant Butte reservoir shortly after Cochiti marina was removed five years ago. The second wave pulled out last year and headed north to Heron Lake when Cochiti Lake was closed for most of the summer due to the Las Conchas fire. Elephant Butte has been hit hard by drought and water payments to Texas the past few years so the third and most recent exodus was last seen heading north to Heron after the BOC headquarters was forced off the water. The evacuation was extremely depressing and painful but absent BOCers were hardly noticed by Cochiti Pueblo or the Army Corps of Engineers... out of sight, out of mind... like the missing period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can... (pardon the cliché). It has been suggested that the name of the lake should have an "R" added. RRRRRRRRR! "Crochiti Lake" sounds about right.
The Stephey Invitational
The Stephey Invitational was held Saturday, August 4th at Heron lake. Almost everyone except Stephey was there. The dock masters du jour were ex-pat BOCers Mike and Nance Walthall. Stuck on the marina for dock duty, Mike and Nance were unable to join the parade, but graciously helped boaters get in and out of their slips. Race masters Greg and Paul devised a simple parade course that overcame the need to set any "stinking" buoys or draw any "stinking" race maps. "Go through the narrows and use the first channel marker buoys as the starting line at High Noon. Sail south toward the dam and round the horn on the island before hightailing it back to the same channel markers for the finish," said Simon, "It doesn't get any simpler than that."
Bushrod gave one thumb up as he skippered over to his Mac 26 and plopped in. He single-handedly motored Seagull through the narrows and raised his sails. Everyone else followed him and Cresta Blanca to the start line in a stiff two knot breeze. Sal and the Binkster on Olive wisely had their mainsail reefed. Flip had tied his dinghy to the back of his Catalina 27 as a mental handicap and braggart's glove-slap challenge to Greg. The Swansons and their LWD (Little White Dog) had a roller furler issue they had to repair before leaving the docks... no problema... Greg changed the start time to 12:40 PM to accommodate them and give the wind a chance to die off a bit... it worked... the wind at the start was a quite manageable .00021 knots.
Ready, Set, Go Raft Up
Dustman and Kathleen on Blue Soul Frog Mate broke the plane of the start line first, around 12:43 PM, however... the rest of their boat did not have enough momentum to cross it. After 20 minutes of drifting around the start buoys the parade master had an idea. "HEY LISSEN UP," a Simon-like voice was heard to holler over the VHF waves, "Everyone motor over to my boat and raft-up to me until the wind comes up. Then we'll start the race again as we peel off the raft-up party." Immediately, a three knot breeze kicked up but quickly died. False alarm. The momentary spike in the wind speed was merely caused by the collective sigh of relief from the BOC sailors. Realizing what had happened, they all began to tie boats together, open cold beverages and make up lies.
Jeff Adrift
That's when they noticed Jeff adrift in his small green racing skiff about 100 yards to starboard of the septamaran (seven boat raft up). Sheila Beuler and Jeff were supposed to join the BOC raft-race but turned up AWOL. Jeff joined the group to make it an octomaran and explained that Beuler had dropped him off at the launch ramp a couple of hours ago. He was supposed to meet her and the dogs up on shore by their camp site but had been unable to make any headway in the calm winds. The octomaran then set course under motor power for the Beuler shore with Jeff and the green skiff hanging off the starboard side of the raft. As they neared Beuler and the Canines, the wind finally began to blow. The octomaran untied itself and the race was back on. "...around the horn and back to the finish line at the channel marker buoys," said Simon as he and Mary sailed swiftly away from the pack.
Simon's Senior Moment
The wind continued to steadily increase as the Stephey Invitational Fleet followed Cresta Blanca around the horn and back toward the finish line. Flip and the Catalina with the handicap dinghy was hot on the trail and tail of Simon. They both pulled further out in front of the pack of lying BOC liars... a half mile lead made the crew of Cresta Blanca look like tiny little q-tips among the white caps far, far away. They were less than a quarter mile from the finish line. Only a serious mistake or equipment failure could snatch victory from the tiny q-tips now... time for Simon's senior moment to arrive. There are TWO SETS of red and green channel markers about a tenth of a mile apart on the entrance course to the narrows. The markers closest to the narrows are the ones Simon had designated as the start line AND the finish line. When he passed the first set of channel marker buoys he mistook them as the finish line. He immediately turned around for a victory sail, thinking that he had finished the race. Flip saw Greg and Mary celebrating and promptly did the same thing at the same place. Heavens to Mergatroid... what had been a potentially exciting race finish with deserving, competent winners, suddenly reverted to a senior parade of also rans. Soul Frog and Pleiades stole first and second place while the rest of the field pretty much DQed themselves and went through that disgusting "gag me" gesture with fingers down throat.
Sparkie and Sandy of Pleiades had previously scouted out a beautiful anchorage just upstream of the marina to be used for a raft-up-pot-luck after the parade ended. In light of that and the fact that Sandy was wearing short shorts, the BOC blazer was awarded to her because she looked like she could be naked underneath the jacket.
A four minute youtube video was assembled from the day and evening's water time to answer the oft asked question, "Where have all the Boat Owners of Cochiti gone?" View it here:
