The Cats Out of the Bag

Finally! Check out Alan's blog. He's finally announced his plans for the 2008 WaterTribe Everglades Challenge, which I've been hinting about for a few weeks. This year, the EC will be even more of a family affair, with Alan teaming up with Paul (his Dad), and building a Core Sound 20, to race in Class 4. Hmmm, need to recruit Tana somehow.

Paul and I have been wanting a sail boat for the past few years, though Paul's interest included building it himself (he has always been the kind of guy who just "makes it himself"). We always thought this would be a retirement project in the future.

Not as interested in the catamarans that Alan loves and sails, Paul still wanted something fast, and I wanted something that would let us explore and camp around the NC sounds. Last year, seeing the EC22 'Southern Skimmer', designed, built, and raced by naval architect Graham Byrnes of B&B Yacht Designs, Paul found a type of boat he was interested in. And Alan approved, it not only had been raced, it was fast.

Alan had been thinking a lot about what boat to race next year. Then I'd seen a posting by another WaterTriber Greybeard who mentioned he was building a Core Sound 20 for the race. I suggested Alan look into this possibility. Graham had previously won an EC with a Core Sound 17, his boats are proven. Being a Mom, I was thinking that this boat was the safest suggestion I could think of (you have no idea some of the ideas Alan was considering).

Paul and Alan had teamed up for a weekend of sail racing with Alan's Hobie 18 at the Outback Regatta a month ago, and they had a great time together, even came in 2nd place in their division. It was a great father-son adventure, and I can't tell you how pleased and proud we are that Alan asked Paul to team again, both in building the boat and in racing it. It took a bit of convincing Paul at first, statistician that he is, he needed to do a bit of research and work out some projections to assess the feasibility. He didn't really stand a chance. Like his Mom, Alan can justify anything and everything, it's all good.

I thought they would be building in the garage, but apparently it wasn't going to be big or warm enough. Our basement, though rarely used, is a finished basement, even carpeted, it is not a workshop. But it is big enough, so I've packed up my sewing and quilting supplies, moved my "in progress" skin-on-frame kayak out of the way, and voila, one weekend later, it's a boat shop.

What's the real exciting part of it all. We'll have Alan home most weekends, and through the winter holidays. Now it's time to think of a role for Tana. To have them both home so much would be heaven.

Speaking of Tana (and giving equal face time), Tana was home for a couple of days during her Fall break. During her visit we went for a nice morning hike on our local Bolin Creek trails.