“RECOLLECTIONS OF A WINDY DAY”

by Pete Schille

 

As I sit here and think about the events of the day, mostly I find myself thinking, “Thank goodness now people will stop talking about when I dropped my RADIO in the lake”…more on that later.

The word of the day was undoubtedly WIND.  It was a windy day.  For anyone that finds himself or herself wondering from time to time about the existence of God…today was proof.  Not only is there a God, but he listens to our races and thinks it’s funny to turn up the wind at the exact same moment we start the five-minute clock.  I have often believed that God enjoys a good laugh…but there will be more on that later.

I have a very clear memory today of Mike saying something about my sponson not being just right, and me REALLY not wanting to look at it.  If there was something not right about my sponson it was a problem as we were about to drop boats in for the start of the race.  But of course I DID look and of course the whole ride surface of the KYYX’s right sponson was flapping happily in the wind.  Then I found myself doing math in my head trying to figure out if there was enough time to borrow some tape for a quickie repair.  Just then the clock said (in a very annoying voice) that there was one minute fifteen seconds to the start and I knew that all my high school math could not save me.

Today saw Mark Beaty get his first Classic Thunder heat win…and then later I think he got two more.  I love to see the new guys do well.  Mike Schultz won a heat by USING HIS THROTTLE and I think that was his first heat win too.  Dale Schroeder ran well and keeps adding points to his total and the boat seems to be improving every time out.  Danny Minallia even tested and qualified his new Miss Madison.  We had eleven Division Two boats and fifteen Division One boats enter competition on a wet and windy day.

Later in the day the KYYX went dead at the exit of the first turn and I watched in horror as a large cloud of white smoke erupted from the engine well.  I looked keenly for the bright orange flames that I was SURE would follow, consuming the hull and the buxom driver.  I wondered if I was about to be paid back for my little Photoshop joke, when I created a picture of the Miller High Life looking like a roman candle.  But luckily, where there was smoke there was only smoke…and Brenda will race another day.

But the memory that everyone will take with them from today’s race…the event that will be talked about for years to come (and will certainly wipe out any memory of somebody dropping a radio a few years back), will be Pat falling off the dock.  It was a mighty splash.  I was just a few feet away in the rowboat and when I turned to see who had fallen in, all I really saw was a big patch of frothy white water.  Pat went under.  Mike had a good vantage point and saw him vanish beneath the waves.  Pat eventually bobbed to the surface with a very surprised look on his face, he told me later the water was very cold and I believed him.  Mitch was in the process of helping me out of the rowboat when Pat toppled over…and for some reason after assessing the situation Mitch decided to continue helping me out of the rowboat.  I felt that since I was actually IN THE BOAT with a high probability of remaining dry…it was probably not as urgent to help me, as it was to help Pat. 

 

In the end Pat was saved, the race was called off after about two thirds of the heats (due to wind), and now no one will talk anymore about the time somebody dropped his or her radio in the lake.