Thistle Midwinters West - 2008

The Mission Bay Yacht Club was faced with some tough decisions after the 2007 event. The event wasn't growing, many were having a tough time with the timing (holidays). The gang at Fleet 13 decided to push the date back, tweak the venue with all ocean sailing and see how the masses would react. With nearly 40 boats this year, they've made the right call!

Paul Abdullah and I talked about going to MWW since last summer when Mike Polterak promised ocean sailing. It had been a few years since we drove out and seemed appropriate for us to make the trek again. As plans started to form, Ken Lane pulled the trigger and bought 3995 from me. He wanted to pick the boat up in San Diego....great! Then as we got closer Ken and I decided that he should sail his new prize. I was cool with that and then decided to run around in a motor boat and watch.

A few weeks later Scott McCormack, who attended the 1st Jacksonville training weekend in December, said that he had some interest in going to San Diego and that we could team up and sail his new boat, 4008. I was game and we put our plans together, which the end result was 3 boats heading from Jacksonville to San Diego.

Paul and I have fun when we travel and the trip out was no exception. Aside from some stiff headwinds that yielded about 8mpg, we made it with no issues and had fun catching up....all 36 hours!

The event itself was terrific. Weather couldn't have been better with sunny skies and temps in the 60s. The competition was incredible with many very good teams from all over the USA.

In the end, Paul Abdullah and his team of Nick Turney and Sarah Paisley won. They sailed a solid event and finished strong by winning the last race. Very impressive series by this team. Second place went to Greg Fisher sailing with Jeff Eiber and Joanne Fisher. Scott McCormack and I finished 3rd. We had a great time and though the wind was a bit more than we expected (we sailed 2-up), we hung in there and had fun!

Thanks to everyone at the MBYC. They bent over backwards to make sure we were taken care of and had fun. Free beer, hors devours, great meals, etc. If you are looking for a change of scenery (yes, all you in the east!), you should make the trip....it is worth it!

Photos by George Szabo.