From the reports I heard I did the right thing by skipping Toliva Shoal this year, nothing but rain and no wind with a current-assisted finish at Johnson Pt.  Instead I drove to Arizona for a Viper event, the Birthday Regatta/Leukemia Cup at Lake Pleasant which is about 30 miles north of Phoenix.

I was helping out some new owners who had just purchased a used Viper They had put a shout out for someone to come down and skipper the boat for them so they could race in this mid-February event. I have done this regatta once before with my own boat and have been wanting to do so again. This was a good opportunity to head south in the winter for some sailing, but not have to tow my boat along with.

I chose to drive instead of fly so I could take more sailing gear in case the boat was not rigged up right and also so I could carry all my own food because I have some pretty strict dietary restrictions nowadays. I packed up the Miata to the bursting point and headed out on my preferred route down I-5 to I-84, then to Twin Falls, Idaho, where I turned south on US 93 through Nevada. This is a beautiful stretch of road through the middle of Nevada with great vistas and open skies. I love traveling through there.

The trip took about 23 hours of driving and I reached my destination at the Lake Pleasant Resort with no time to spare. We worked on getting my hosts’ boat rigged up which took a little longer than normal with having to sort a few idiosyncrasies out. I was glad I had brought all the extra bits and pieces I did.

Fredrik and Bethany were pretty green. Bethany had taken one sailing class and Fredrik had not sailed since childhood. The boat was not well sorted, but we were able to get out and race, albeit late on Friday, missing the first race and then starting late in the second and just sailing around the course getting my crew familiar with the boat and their roles.

It was beautiful sailing weather Friday, 10-15 knots and high 60s/ But Saturday and Sunday were doppelgangers of the Pacific Northwest with low, gray, rain-filled clouds. We even had a lightning strike which sent the fleet in for a couple of hours on Saturday. But the wind was good all weekend and it was over 50 degrees so still warmer than here.

We ended up 8th out of 10 and even managed a 4th in one race, results I was satisfied with given an ill-rigged boat with old sails and neophyte crew. We all had a good time and the new owners of 115 are pretty psyched about sailing their boat more so I felt like my mission was well accomplished.

My trip back was uneventful, but I find myself daydreaming of possibly replacing the Miata with a diesel Mercedes so I can listing to music on a road trip instead of having earplugs in to cut down the road noise.

Rafe Beswick, Dragonfly