- IMG 5580
Have a free bottle of rum for finishing the race, but please don't take it around to 5 bars drinking it. - IMG 5582
To show their appreciation for being taken out on the boat, Julie and Bryan by a liter of Woodford Reserve for Sam. Chambord is both an inferior liquor *and* a boat we bested in our class. Get it?!? - IMG 5583
Some crews had even better get ups than our pink-orange crew shirts. - IMG 5584
Texas barbecue awaited us for the dinner party on Saturday! What bliss. Bryan consumes roughly 1.5 lbs brisket and several rum drinks. - IMG 5586
People eagerly await the announcement of winners. - IMG 5588
Julie makes full use of the free West Marine hat and West Marine light-up plastic ice cube. - IMG 5596
Patrick, exultant, with trophy. - IMG 5599
Julie with trophy. - IMG 5600
Bryan with trophy. - IMG 5602
Mike with trophy. - IMG 5607
Why not put the light up ice cube in your mouth while waiting for another rum and coke? - IMG 5609
I mean, all the cool kids are doing it... - IMG 5610
Strangely Homer-like here... - IMG 5613
Bryan smokes celebratory cigar (#2 for his lifetime). - IMG 5614
Julie smokes too... - IMG 5621
A post-party Whataburger run nets Bryan 1/2 gallon of chocolate shake. - IMG 5626
1.99! I didn't think I'd see it again in my lifetime... - IMG_2165
Pre-dawn on the day of departure. The boat (a Catalina 350, which means it's 35 feet long) waits at the slip in Houston for her noble crew. - IMG_2166
The last picture you'll see of the whole boat... from here on out we're on it. - IMG_2171
Motoring out of Houston through a channel. - IMG_2176
Dawn on the first day (before the start of the race). - IMG_2178
From left to right: Sam (the skipper), Mike (the... uh... other skipper), Doug. - IMG_2180
Dolphins surf on the wakes of huge tankers, purely for pleasure. - IMG_2183
There were about 200 boats in the race... this is the line of boats in the channel behind us leaving Houston and heading to Galveston and the starting line. - IMG_2196
The starting area. Normally a hectic time full of tacks and jockeying for position, the lack of wind made it pretty tame. - IMG_2199
The start! No wind at all. Notice doug holding out the jib hoping for some kind of action. - IMG_2201
In the boredom that was the race start, I caught this boat whose name I thought Leslie would appreciate. - IMG_2212
Sunset on the first day, after several hours of racing. Still no wind (notice the glassy surface of the water). - IMG_2217
Another sunset shot with a boat (not ours). - IMG_2225
Sunrise on day 2. Notice the surface of the water: we have wind! At about 9pm the night before the wind slowly picked up and we had a good 6-7 hours at near-top-speed for the boat (7 knots, which is a bit more than 7 mph).