Last weekend my Dad and I took part in the Trans Tahoe race up at Lake Tahoe. With our friend John Green, we towed up his new Corsair 750 from Alameda. On the way up to Sacramento the sky began to turn progressively gray and smokey. Over 1000 wildfires were burning in California that day, and the air quality was terrible.
John's mid-nineties pick up truck towed the 750 up the Sierras surprisingly well, and we got there in about four hours. It was amazing how much smoke had poured in over the Lake. In many ways Lake Tahoe almost looked like San Francisco on a foggy day. Even worse, there was absolutely no wind. With no chance of sailing that day, we launched the boat and hit the yacht club.
The next day however we awoke to similar conditions. At the skippers meeting the race committee said that they, at their most optimistic estimate, predicted only 6 knots of wind. This, of course, was not good. They also informed us that the race would be postponed until late in the afternoon. Luckily some of the other Corsair owners decided to improvise.
As we motored the boat over back toward our mourning at the launch ramp we noticed two Corsair 24's were beached close by. We pulled the 750 between the two, and cracked open a few cold ones. This turned out to be the best part of the day. It was still very smokey, but warm enough to take a dip in the Lake.
After a few hours of swimming, sandwiches, and drinking we motored out to the race course. Of course when we got there there was still no wind. Many racers had resorted to jumping off their boats, and taking a swim to escape the heat. Finally, late in the afternoon, the race started. I skippered the boat during the race, and was surprised how quickly the wind showed up. The wind became stronger then I think anyone could have hoped for. As for where we finished in the race, somewhere in the middle. Give me a break though, I have not raced in two years. All in all, it's always a good time in Lake Tahoe.
