Five O'Clock Somewhere

Welcome to Five O'Clock Somewhere, where it doesn't matter what time zone you're in; it's five o'clock somewhere. We'll look at rural life, especially as it happens in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, cats, sailing (particularly Etchells racing yachts), and bits of grammar and Victorian poetry.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

OK, the secret’s out

The boat’s name is Black Magic

I had been planning on keeping my new boat’s name a secret until after I got it back to New Mexico. But Larry guessed it right off. If the Etchells fleet in New Mexico is named after America’s Cup winners, given the hull color of this one, the name was fairly obvious, I guess. Of course, there are interesting connotations as the challenger that took the Cup Down Under for the second time and actually kept it for a second term. (Hey, I’ll take the saucer, too!)

The current plan for getting the boat home is that Larry, Braxton, and I will head out to California with Braxton’s truck and Larry’s trailer. Pat doesn’t have enough time off work to join us on the road trip, but he can fly out to join us to take a test sail and close the deal, as well as learn how to take the boat apart for traveling. This could be an interesting trip – a thousand miles each way, with two guys who seldom stop talking. Actually, with this Adams Cup stuff, I haven’t had so much time for my writing, so maybe I’ll get a chance to catch up on that while those two talk.

Pat, Gerald, and I all traveled down together to the lake yesterday afternoon. The weather was windy, so windy that even Larry found conditions too rough to sail. A few of the Adams Cup sailors – Sue, Margaret, and Kari – were at the Strasia compound, where Ken was giving a comprehensive discussion of the responsibilities of the positions on the boat. Jo Ann arrived later, and we had supper (I contributed macaroni and cheese – yes, that recipe), and then we had a nice evening swapping sailing stories and other yarns. Rich had some, um, interesting tales of his days in the Navy.

Larry checked on my elbow, which he confirmed as a case of tennis elbow from working at the helm. Apparently pole-vaulters are also prone to tennis elbow. He recommended putting ice on it (gee, so did Wilbur …), and he has a band to put around the arm near the elbow, and some other athletic-trainer techniques to try.

Pat, Gerald, and I are staying at the Charles Motel this weekend; we have our favorite room. The computer picked up a wireless signal, but it was very faint, too faint to make a connection. I wonder whether the other end of the motel has a better signal, or a worse one. Fortunately, the room has a telephone (the older rooms at the other end don’t), so I can at least file blog posts via dialup, even if our Internet provider’s T or C bandwidth seems to be a bit overburdened.

This weekend, we’re scheduled to have the Valentine’s Chute-Out, and things are likely to be interesting. Winds are predicted to be fairly strong, which will challenge some of the less experienced Adams Cup sailors, including my crew (hereafter to be known as Team Black Magic). We’ll have to see what happens.

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