This fall’s Snooze n Cruise, which took place the weekend of Oct 6-7, was quite an adventure.  The weather forecasted 20-30 knots of wind, so the SnC committee made the executive decision that it would be a no-dinghy trip.  All the dinghy sailors sailed on keelboats instead, but apparently a few of them (like Geoff Wales and Alexia Fischer here) thought they were still on dinghies and decided to trap out:

There was a lot of wind (just like the weatherman said), and every boat but Perspicacious reefed.  Strider even put in two reefs.  The caution paid off as there were no incidents of note.

After everyone was home safely, John Courter sent a message to the email list that the U.S I-14 Nationals had happened at Shilshole the same weekend.  Two of the I-14s in that event had been dismasted in the high winds — boats that were probably in better shape than most of the club dinghies.  At that point it was clear that leaving the dinghies at home was definitely the right choice.

Ever since I joined the club this summer, people have been telling me that the real sailing starts in the fall, and I’m starting to see what they’re talking about.  This week we saw three days in a row of 20-30 knot winds; for comparison, it hardly hit 20 all summer.

All the people who have been waiting to get their skipper ratings are finally getting their chance!  Here is a highlight from Brandon Whitehead’s cat skipper test, with Mike Klaczynski as crew:

Brandon says about this photo:

And think… this was just us screwing around.. it was wicked crazy in lake. You missed it earlier.. I swung around the forestay when we pitchpoled… twice!

Last Monday we took 300 incoming freshman sailing as part of a campus-wide event called Dawg Daze. Dawg Daze is a chance for new students to get out and have some fun before school starts. Groups from all across campus organize free events for freshman for the entire week prior to Autumn Quarter. This is the first year we’ve participated, and it’s been a great opportunity for us to get more people excited about sailing and hopefully recruit some new members.

The event was a smashing success for us, thanks to over 50 club members who volunteered their time to make it a reality. Over the course of six and a half hours (and using at least ten boats) we put 300 students on the water. The weather was nice, but we could have used a bit more cooperation from the wind, which died down to just a few knots in the evening.

We originally planned to do it all again today (Sunday), but had to cancel due to weather. The forecast called for rain and a steady 10-20 knots of wind — great sailing weather for hardy club members, but not so good for taking new people out for the first time.

This isn’t the last of Dawg Daze though. It happens every fall, and with our great success this year we’ll probably look to do it again next fall.