The Adventure Continues.....Sunfish World's 2009

Heat Stroke & 90210

2009-10-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

This morning Brent and I woke up around 7:00am and made our way directly to the Nassau Yacht Club. Around 8:30 the first of 4 containers arrived on site. We had a little bit of help from some volunteers and also some paid help. Once we unloaded the first container, the second one showed up. Once we unloaded the second container the third one showed up. Once we unloaded the third container, the last one showed up. At this point, my shirt and Brent’s shirt were completely soaked. It was so hot, or at least it felt like over 100 degrees, that I think I could hear my skin burning.

We unboxed about half the boats and then decided to take a lunch break and try to revive ourselves. After lunch, we decided to unload the last container, un-boxing the boats as they came out, and then load the last container full of all the boxes. That first container has been placed for us to use as a headquarters and storage for our spare parts. The second and third containers are already off site and the last container will get taken out tomorrow.

At this point it was 5:00pm and Brent and I were both ready to collapse. I had to try to slow down my breathing and lower my core temperature. I am pretty sure that Brent and I both got a little heat stroke. We slowly made our through the rush hour traffic back to the pool house where we both stumbled into the air conditioned room. We took turns taking showers, well, more like cupping water out of the nozzle and throwing it on our bodies.

We had talked about going to Outback Steak House for dinner, but by 7:00 I don’t think either of us would have been able to be at a sit down dinner without passing out. So we decided to go to KFC and take that back to the pool house. We spent about 30 minutes at KFC as they had to fry our chicken right then and there (which is probably better than getting the 3 hour old chicken that they usually have). We got back to the pool house just in time to catch 90210 on the TV……….pause for Brent making fun of Josh and calling him a girl and lame……..but whatever, it’s a good show. We chowed down on our delicious fried chicken while we watched re-runs of The Office. I passed out on the couch while we watched the show, so yet again, I ended up with the couch for the night.

Discovery Day

2009-10-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

Today was an off day for Brent and me. As everyone in the US was celebrating Columbus Day, everyone in the Bahamas was celebrating Discovery Day. I think they call is that because Mr. Columbus may not have been the nicest guy. We both slept in since we knew this would be the only chance to do that while we were down here. We went to try to get lunch at the Subway that is at the local shopping plaza, but it was closed for the holiday.

So we made our way to downtown and had some Sbarro’s Pizza for lunch. We then walked around downtown a little bit and did some window shopping; downtown was actually pretty busy as there was a cruise ship in town. We decided that we would go back to the pool house for a little bit and then head over to Atlantis and check out Pleasure Island in late afternoon. We headed over the bridge around 4:00pm, parked and made our way to Atlantis. This hotel is so ridiculous it is stupid. They have shops, a casino, a water park, restaurants, and a whole cave style aquarium. We took a tour of the whole resort and then found a nice American style grille (Anthony’s Grille) to eat at.

Once we finished dinner we made our way back over the bridge and to the pool house to watch Monday Night Football and pass out. I again got the couch because I wanted to watch the entire game, not because I had any fantasy players playing, but because I HATE THE J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS. The Jets lost, thank god, which allowed me to sleep a little bit more comfortably.

Pool House Livin'

2009-10-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning, I looked out the window and saw the beautiful turquoise ocean that makes the Caribbean famous. When we had come in last night it was very dark, so I had no idea that the ocean was that close. But I guess we are on an island, so I guess that makes sense. We finally got picked up by Avis at 10:00am, after I had to call them wondering where they were even though I had scheduled a pick up. We went back to the airport to fill out the rental car paperwork and then made our way to the Nassau Yacht Club.

So they drive on the other side of the road here (the left side) but mini van was an American made car so the steering wheel is on the regular side, which really screwed me up. I am pretty good with driving here now, but I am sure I will be screwed up again when I get back to the states. Also, they drive like absolute maniacs around here. I mean, I grew up driving in Massachusetts with all the Massholes, but they are ridiculous down here.

We made it to the yacht club safe and sound at 12:00 noon and had a meeting with the PRO for the regatta, the regatta chairman, and Franny (who as far as I can tell is the absolute man down here and is the guy to know if you want to get something done). Then Franny drove us to the place that we were going to stay which is about 2 miles down the street. We are staying in some guy’s pool house (kind of like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air). I think the guy’s name is Roger, but he wasn’t home so we haven’t met him yet. The pool house is disconnected from the main house and is gated off because their dog Rocky (a chocolate lab mix) lives there. He is not allowed in the pool house or out of the gate and it is a constant struggle to keep him away from both. I think Rocky is a little starved for attention because he is all over me whenever I am within 20 feet of him.

Curiously though, he does not seem to like Brent. Franny then took us for a little tour of downtown showing us where we should go and, more importantly, where we shouldn’t go. We then went back to the yacht club to pick up the mini van and conclude our meeting. Brent and I then made our way to downtown for some lunch. We really had no idea where to go so we ended up at the most American place we could find, Hard Rock, Nassau. After lunch we went back to the pool house and relaxed a little and watched some TV.

The pool house is really nice with a full kitchen, bathroom, shower (no water pressure though) 1 bedroom and couch. The TV gets full cable, a total of 54 channels, which is great since all we did in Canada at Laser Worlds was watch movies. We got to watch the Patriots game, which sucked, and also catch the end of the Red Sox game (and the end of the Red Sox season) which SUCKED EVEN MORE!!! We thought about going out for dinner, but we still were not sure where was safe to go, so we ended up going to McDonalds and bringing it back to the pool house. We fell asleep while watching Sunday Night Football, and I got the couch because I wanted to watch the entire game since I had Payton Manning and Dallas Clark on my fantasy team.

Josh Was 10 Minutes Late

2009-10-10T05:44:00.000-07:00

This morning Brent and I departed for our “Spring Break” (or more like “Fall Break”) trip to the Sunfish World Championships in Nassau, Bahamas. My wife, Amy, was nice enough to drive us to Logan airport so that we didn’t have to park a car for 2 weeks. So Amy and I met Brent at LaserPerformance at 11:00am (well actually 11:10, and Brent would make sure to emphasize the 10 minutes that we were late) and we all made our way to Boston. When we arrived at Logan we said our goodbyes (I think I spotted a tear coming from Amy’s eye) and made our way to the terminal. We flew out of Boston to Miami and then took a little puddle jumper to Nassau. Our flight out of Boston was a little delayed, so when we arrived in Miami we had to book it to our connecting plane so as not to miss our flight to Nassau. We made it to the plane on time; however, our luggage was not so lucky. This actually made getting through customs a little easier as we only had our carry on baggage with us. We had rented a mini van through Avis, but since we were arriving at 8:00pm and Avis closed at 7:30 we had to get a hotel near the airport for the night. Ya, that’s right, Avis wouldn’t stay open for an extra 30 minutes. “Avis……we try harder”………..HORSE CRAP. Anyway, we got a taxi to our hotel (Orange Hill Inn), ordered Domino’s delivery and passed out as we watched something or other on the TV.

2009-09-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

Today was an absolutely beautiful day on the water. The breeze was up to about 10 knots when the boats went out to the course. The wind was steady out of the southwest and built to about 15 knots throughout the day. The race committee was on point today, getting the first race started exactly at 12:00noon. They got 2 races done for each fleet in both the Full Rig and Radial lines by about 3:00pm, making it an early day for the sailors.

The boys and I went into downtown Halifax for a nice seafood dinner for my last night. I am very happy to be going home tomorrow, but there is a little piece of me that is sad to leave the palace and the guys up here. The trip has been interesting and fun, in many more ways than one. In the past month, more has happened to me than probably in the year preceding my trip. I could probably write a novel of all the stories and memories, and another novel of all the stories that I wish I could forget.

When we got back to the palace, we threw in Friday, with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker, for the last and final movie. Tomorrow I fly out at 11:20am, so I will make one last trip to the St. Margaret’s Sailing Club tomorrow morning, and then will be on my way back to RI.

"Don't let go of the rope."

2009-09-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

Today was the rest day for the Laser Masters World Championship sailors, and boy did we need it; I mean, boy did THEY need it. We finally got to sleep in a little bit today. Carson and I made our way down to the yacht club around 10:00am to check on the boats. Carson stuck around the yacht club to use the internet while I went to try to get a haircut. Yup, that’s right, I haven’t cut my hair in 2 months and haven’t shaved in just over 1 month. As I am leaving on Friday to attend a wedding in Connecticut on Saturday, my wife has instructed me to get a haircut before I leave the country. So I made my way down to where the supermarket is and walked into the only place within a 40 km radius (no miles up in the northern country) that offered haircuts, took off my hat, and showed them what we would be working with. Unfortunately, this being the only hair salon in town, they were booked for the next two days.

So I made my way back to the yacht club, still with a full head of hair, but also with lunch for myself and Carson. We had the Double Big Mac meal from McDonalds. I have never seen a Double Big Mac anywhere in the US, but this is now the second place in Canada I have seen it. If you are trying to imagine this scrumptious sandwich, I will do you one better and describe it for you; FOUR all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Absolutely amazing, maybe I will miss this country just a little bit. Anyway, when I got back to the yacht club, Carson was so hungry I think he was foaming from the mouth.

After scarfing down our wonderful meals, I went up to the container and organized the sails in all their boxes so they would be ready for load up next week. Carson and I made our way back to the palace around 2:00pm, where we picked up Dan and Brent and headed to the other side of the bay. Angus Buchanan, owner of North Sails, Halifax, our local dealer and on site support for the regatta, was having a rest day BBQ at his house, complete with steaks, beer and waterskiing. Angus’ 13 year old boy, Duncan, is a champion sailor, snow skier and had just competed in his first water skiing competition, placing first, of course. I had told Duncan a couple of days ago that I would go water skiing (even though I suck at it and haven’t water skied since I was 12 years old) because he wanted to teach me how to do it.

When we showed up at Angus’, the water was freezing, so I really did not want to go. Angus said that if I didn’t, Duncan would make fun of me until the day I die. Like, he would be at my funeral and yell out “That pussy wouldn’t go water skiing”. Carson said that if I was going to do it that he wanted to go back to the cabin and get the video camera. I said that I would only do it if he got the video camera because I wanted proof that I didn’t wimp out. He said that if he went back to get it, I would HAVE to get in the water. So it was decided, I took the ride with Carson back to the palace so he could get the video camera and so that I could get swim trunks. When we got back to Angus’ place I was taken directly down to the dock. I did a swan dive into the water to try to get used to the temperature. Once my feet were sufficiently num, Duncan showed me how to attach the water skies. Duncan then pulled me to the side and said, “the most important thing to remember is that if you fall down, no matter what you do, don’t let go of the rope”.

Now this struck me as odd, why the hell wouldn’t I let go of the rope? So I asked Duncan, “why not?” Duncan looked at me with a wide smile and said “Cuz then we can drag you through the water.” What a punk, right?

So there I was, sitting in the water, with a life jacket, 2 water skies and holding onto a rope handle that is attached to a 17 ft Boston Whaler with a 70 horsepower motor on the back ready to sever my arms from my body. All I could hear is a mish mosh of instructions being yelled at me from all different directions. “Don’t cross your skies”; “Keep your weight back”; “Hold on tight”; “Just water ski” (I especially liked that one). The rope was suppose to be going right between the two skies as I kept the tips just above water. Somehow the rope got to the outside, when I heard someone say, “It works better between your legs!” That comment of course prompted a well deserved “THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID” from me.

That’s when the motor boat took off and before I was out of the water, my face was almost impaled by one of the skies. I mean, come on, for those of you who know me, did you really think I would be able to water ski without whipping out at least a couple times. Well, wouldn’t you know it; I got straight out of the water on the second attempt and stayed up for the entire ride. There were some shaky parts, like when I tried to wave at the video camera that Carson was holding, filming from the tow boat, and almost bit it off to the right.

After the one trip down the cove and back, I was done. I could tell my arms were most definitely going to hurt the next day. By the time we got back up to the house it was almost dark, so the boys and I said our thank yous and goodbyes and made our way back to the palace.

Since we ate steak at Angus’ house we weren’t too hungry so we just had some of the left over Chinese food from last night. We watched Harold and Kumar go to White Castle……again…….while we ate, and then popped in the VHS version of Robin Hood, Men In Tights to fall asleep to. Tomorrow is my last full day at the event, so I think I am going to go out on the water with Dan to try to get some good pictures.

Carson Holds the Video Footage Captive and Stepbrothers AGAIN

2009-09-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

Today, the first day of September, we awoke to brilliant sunshine and a clear sky. Brent and Dan stayed on land today, Brent needed to finish up some work on his computer and Dan made love to the copy machine making sure that he had copies of everything in my Laser Worlds binder to make sure we are ready for next year’s worlds in Weymouth, England.

Carson and I took to the water, Carson again with his video camera and me behind the steering wheel. When we got out to the course, the sun was still shining, but it was a little chilly. The wind was out of the North which is very irregular for St. Margaret’s Bay and was coming off the land making for a very shifty day. There was probably about 15 knots of wind in the puffs, but the lulls were really low at about knots. The key to today was hitting the shifts and connecting the puffs to stay in the wind. We stayed on the full rig course the whole day and focused on following the Red and Yellow fleets as they had multiple local (Newport and New York) sailors in them. Carson got a lot of good video, but again, I have to try to bribe it out of him to let us post it, maybe if we take away his areo bed and make him sleep on the floor or something.

The fleets got 2 races off fairly quickly and were on shore by 5:00pm to get ready for the Welcoming Ceremony (re-scheduled Opening Ceremony that was canceled on Sunday because of the storm) at 6:30. In the second race for the Red fleet, Andy Pimental of fleet 413 (Newport, RI) had one of the biggest leads I have ever seen. He won the race by almost an entire leg over the second place boat in his fleet and probably ended up 13th or so in the 25 boat fleet in front of him that started 10 minutes before his fleet. Two other fleet 413 members, Scott Ferguson and Mark Bear, grabbed first and second for the Yellow fleet in the second race today, Ferguson edging out Bear in the last 2 legs. Scott Ferguson currently sits in second place overall for the regatta.

After hanging out at the club for a little while to make sure the sailors were all set, the boys and I made our way back to the palace and ordered Chinese food for dinner and watched Step Brothers; the 3rd time I have watched that movie since I have been up here, but it really never gets old. After dinner and the movie we watched some of Carson’s footage of the day. I think his camera work is getting better each day, but he has got to get some funny tag lines going. After watching the on-water footage we popped in Knocked Up, again the second time I have seen that movie up here, but again, very very funny. Tomorrow is a rest day for the sailors, but I will be making my way down to the club to check on the boats and do some organizing of the containers to make sure the boys are good to go when they have to check the boats in this weekend.

Carson Finds His Second Calling

2009-08-31T13:18:00.000-07:00

Today, the second day of racing for the Laser Masters World Championships started as a chilly and overcast day. Carson and Dan took the on-water duty today as Brent and I both had some work to do at the club. I worked on organizing all the damage sheets from the 169 boats at the Senior Laser Worlds and putting them in numerical order.

On the water, the sky cleared up, but the breeze sort of shut off. The wind was fluky and shifty all over the race course making for a very frustrating day for the sailors. After racing, Carson, Brent, Dan and I hung out at the club for a little while making sure all the competitors were set for tomorrow. We made our way back to the palace around 7:30pm where we watched some of Carson’s video footage from the day.

Carson may have found his second calling as a camera man and commentator. Unfortunately we can not post the great shots unless we pay Carson an arm and a leg. Maybe he will loosen up after I offer him some Canadian food stamps. More to come on that front later. As we watched the footage I made a pasta dinner for boys, complete with meatballs and garlic bread. After dinner we watched Team America; Worlds Police, which Brent and I have already watched up here, but it never gets old. We decided to make it a double feature this evening by popping in Ace Ventura II; When Nature Calls and passed out somewhere in the middle of the flick.

My Lobster named Frederick

2009-08-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of racing for the Senior World Championships. When we got to the club, we noticed that the big tent that was there yesterday was not there anymore. The reason for that is that it blew over last night in the wind gust and at the same time took a power line with it. I heard that the wind last night got up to 50 knots around 3:00am. There were many down branches all around the area and a lot of debris all over the grounds. However, the sky was clear; it was sunny and hot and looked like a great day.

When all the sailors arrived, they all brought their boats back to their upright position and started to rig. Brent and Carson stayed on land today to clean up the containers and organize things while Dan and I went on the water. While motoring out to the race course the wind totally shut off. They have 2 different race courses, one for the Radials and one for the full rigs. The full rig course was all the way on the western shore, probably 3 miles or more from the club. All the boats didn’t get to the race course until after 2:00pm even though the scheduled start time was 1:00pm. The wind was light to non-existent, which is kind of what I figured since the storm last night probably sucked most of it out.

We sat in postponement until about 3:30 when the sea breeze finally kicked in. Once the wind filled in, it was blowing probably blowing 10-15 knots with some pretty big chop and rollers. Brent gave me a call while I was on the water and said that he and Carson were going to pick up some lobsters for dinner at this small, cheap lobster shack down the street, so that basically made my day. Dan and I got in off the water around 6:00. The four of us hung out at the club to make sure all the sailors were set for tomorrow. We left around 7:30 to go back to the cabin and have our amazing lobster bake.

Upon getting back to the palace, Brent and Carson started to boil the lobsters while Dan and I picked out a dinner movie. We watched 40 Year Old Virgin while devouring our lobsters. Each of us named our lobsters so that we could talk to them while we were demolishing them. Mine was named Frederick, Dan named his Rufus, Carson called his Larry (the lobster) and Brent called his something that I really shouldn’t put in writing. It was sort of tough to eat the lobsters since we did not have the crackers, so we made due with the blunt end of a large steak knife. We all did a great job and didn’t leave a single ounce of lobster meat uneaten. After consuming the lobsters, corn on the cob, and some pasta we sat down to watch our evening movie, Club Dread.

Chief Running Carson

2009-08-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

When we woke up today, it was cold and raining. Hurricane Dan had been downgraded to a tropical depression and seemed like it wouldn’t hit us very hard at all. We knew today would be fairly easy for handing boats out because we only had about 4 more to hand out. However, because it was raining, a lot of sailors didn’t even come to the club, so we had to flip their boats for them and tie them all down. This took most of the day and doing it in the cold rain was even harder.

We finally finished with all the boats around 5:00pm and we were all totally spent and ready to go back to the cabin and go to sleep. However, we hadn’t eaten all day, so before we passed out we needed to get some food in our stomachs. We went to a great little place called Freddy’s Seafood where we, of course, got pizza and poutine, because that is definitely what you are suppose to eat at a seafood restaurant, right?

After eating we went back to the cabin, threw in a movie (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). Brent went to straight to bed before the previews were even over and I passed out in the chair I was sitting in not long after. After our nice naps, we all woke up and got ready for the night. A family that has been helping out at the club for the entire event was having a party for some of the volunteers and had invited us, so of course we had to make an appearance. Also, the party was on our road and literally less than a mile away. The rain didn’t stop all day or night, and by the time we left for the party, the wind was really picking up.

When we got to the party we realized that everyone was wearing a hat, and most of them really weird. The hosts told us that it was a hat party and gave us something to wear. I already had my Red Sox hat on, so I was good. Brent was given a yellow fisherman’s foul weather hat, Dan was wearing a pirate handkerchief (arg) and Chief Running Carson was given an Indian head dress. It was a good party, and after socializing for a bit, we made our way back to the cabin to pass out. Tomorrow is the first day of racing and should be pretty windy. I hope they get to sail because if they don’t, then they will probably cancel the scheduled rest day on Wednesday, very sad.

Brent the Designated Sprite Drinker

2009-08-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

Today proved to be a much easier and relaxed day. I had a meeting in the morning with the event organizers and some ILCA reps to discuss plans for tomorrow because, wouldn’t you know it with our luck, another hurricane is headed our way. This one is named Hurricane Dan, which Dan Slater thought was great. However, this hurricane seems to be much weaker and not as close as Bill last week.

As we have almost double the amount of boats we have decided not to put any of them inside. It was agreed by myself and everyone else that the best plan of action would be to have every sailor flip their boat upside down with the deck on the grass and put the dollies on top of the boats. Then, we would drive steaks into the ground and tie lines over the boats to prevent them from lifting up if there was an updraft. I think this seems like a good plan and should keep the boats pretty safe.

After we were done at the Yacht Club we made our way back to the cabin. We all took showers got some nice clothes on and decided to go into Halifax for dinner. We ended up going to a nice pub-style place right on the water that had good sandwiches and great beer. We went for a couple more drinks at a bar up the road and then our Brent, our designated Sprite drinker for the night, got us home safe and sound.

Our Cabin, "The Palace"

2009-08-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of boat allocation for the Laser Masters Worlds and boy was it a busy day. We must have handed out about 150 of the 170 charter boats. The Masters sailors seem way more relaxed than the Senior Worlds sailors, most of them using this event as a vacation, some with their families.

It was a pretty long day at the club, and by the time we got out, all we wanted to do was eat, throw in a movie and pass out. We went to the supermarket and got some nice steaks to bring back to the cabin, which has now been re-named “The Palace”. The four of us had a lovely dinner outside on the deck of steak, salad and pasta. After dinner we watched one of the movies that Carson brought up with him, Booty Call. Thank god he brought some because I think we had almost watched all of ours. Tomorrow should be a much easier day as we only have about 20 more boats to hand out.

The Canadian Delicacy “Poutine"

2009-08-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of the Senior World Championships. It also happens to be check in day for all 169 boats chartered for the event. Brent and Carson went on the water today to support the boats while Dan and I stayed on land and organized everything, making sure that we were ready to check in the boats as soon as they hit the launch ramp.

Devin had to fly back to the states today, so I took him to the airport around 3:45. He actually almost missed his flight since we only got him there just about an hour before his flight. It was tough tearing him away from his riveting meeting with the Laser Class officials; you know how those meetings can be.

When I got back to the club, the sailors were already starting to de-rig and Dan, Carson and Brent were starting to go through the boat yard and check in the boats. With 169 boats to check in, we had to make sure that we were organized so everything would move smoothly. We had Dan and Carson checking in the boats in front of the club and Brent and I checked the boats in that were up the hill in back of the club. We finally finished check in around 9 o’clock.

I felt like it was a huge mess, probably because we all were being pulled in different directions all the time, however, when we talked to Bill later that night he said that he was hearing from the sailors that it was the smoothest check in they had ever been through. So I guess everything went pretty well, which is very good.

There was very minimal damage to most of the boats, and they are now all ready to be allocated to the Masters sailors starting tomorrow. Brent, Dan, Carson and myself went to Lefty’s restaurant (one of the sponsors of the event) for dinner. Unfortunately, we got to Lefty’s at 9:10 which is 10 minutes after they stop serving their regular dinner menu, so our dinner choices were very limited. Carson and Dan both tried the Canadian delicacy “Poutine” which is french fries, gravy and melted cheese. It looked pretty nasty, but they both seemed to love it. When we got back to the cabin we popped in Pineapple Express, which is an absolutely great movie. Tomorrow is the first day of Laser Masters Worlds check in, and we expect to be very busy.

Paul Goodison Leads

2009-08-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today we had 3 new arrivals to the Laser World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I went out on the water to support the boats while Brent played taxi driver. He first went to the Halifax International Airport at 12:30 to pick up Dan Slater. Then, Brent and Dan made their way back to the airport at 3:45 to pick up Bill Crane. By the time I got back on land, Brent, Dan and Bill were just arriving to the club. It was a good day on the water, great wind (12-15 knots) and good racing.

Paul Goodison sits on top of the leader board after today with a 3rd, 1st and 1st in the 3 races sailed. After getting to shore, meeting Dan and seeing Bill, the 3 of us (Brent, myself and Dan) again made our way to the airport to pick up Carson who was arriving around 8:00pm. The four of us made our way to the Montana Steak house, right near the airport, for dinner. By the time we got back to the cabin we were all very tired so we just passed out almost immediately.

And The Cabin Was Still There!

2009-08-24T05:54:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the club this morning at 6:45am. By about 7:00 there were over 20 people ready to start unloading the boats from the yacht club and the RC building. The hardest part of the unload was going to be the yacht club where many of the boats were standing on their transoms. Once everyone got involved with the unload, it went very smoothly.

Believe it or not, we were done unloading the entire fleet in 45 minutes. That’s right, by 7:45, all boats were out of the clubs, on dollies and in the fields. It was absolutely amazing how fast the process went. As the first start was still not scheduled until 1:00pm, many people went out for breakfast or to get coffee after the unload. The fleet finally got on the water around 12 noon and started to make their way to the race course.

I waited at the yacht club for Brent to get back from the airport where he was picking up our fearless leader, Mr. Devin Kelly. Devin and Brent arrived around 12:30 and the 3 of us made our way to the race course on our 20 ft Boston Whaler. Today was the first day of championship racing. The 165 competitors have been split up into 3 fleets again, but this time it was based on their performance from the past 3 days. The 3 fleets are the Gold fleet (for the championship), the Silver fleet and the Bronze fleet. Once on the course, the wind was light to non existent so we idled around and then shut off the motor and just drifted.

Eventually we dropped Devin off on the RC signal boat so that he could talk to the ILCA guys. The rest of the day was fairly boring on the water. The wind would come up to about 3 ½ knots to 4 knots at times and then would die down to less than a breath of air. We, along with the rest of the sailors drifted around under the postponement flag for good 4 hours. The competitors all hung out on their coach boats and with other sailors, and some even just left their boats to drift around with no one in them and not tied up to anything. The sailors signified that they wanted to head into shore multiple times by tapping the decks of their boats with their tillers and yelling across the race course. The Race Committee did not seemed swayed by the competitors opinions. They tried to get one start off around 4:15 but then went right into postponement at the start gun. They decided to send us in around 5:00pm getting zero races off for the day.

Once on land, the sailors de-rigged and promptly left to go home. Devin went back with Angus Buchanan (owner of North Sails Atlantic) and will be staying at his friend’s place just up the street. Brent and I decided to get delicious Subway for dinner, brought it back to the cabin (which remarkably was still there) and chowed down as we watched an absolutely amazing movie and one of Jim Carey’s best, Dumb and Dumber. Tomorrow we have 3 LP people coming in. Dan Slater, our Event Manager in the UK will be arriving around 12:30, Bill Crane will be coming in at around 3:45pm and Carson will be flying in around 7:30. Dan and Carson will be staying until the end of load up after the Masters Worlds which should prove to be an enormous help. Bill will be here to be LP’s rep at the Laser Class meetings that will be held in an undisclosed location at undisclosed times throughout the next few days. Hopefully we get some racing in tomorrow as the weather is suppose to be beautiful and there are only 2 days left of the regatta.

TV At the Halifax Hotel

2009-08-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning to the sound of pounding rain and howling wind, Hurricane Bill had arrived in Halifax right on schedule. I looked out the window of the hotel to see sideways rain and trees being blown to an angle; I was glad that we had put all the boats inside the last night. Brent and I had a conference call with about 12 other people at 11:00am to discuss the process of unloading the boats out of the clubhouses. We came up with a pretty good plan. We are all going to meet at the yacht club at 7:00am tomorrow morning and most of the sailors should show up as well. We should be able to unload all the boats in a couple hours and have enough time to have the sailors get their boats ready for a regular 1:00pm start time.

Brent and I took it easy for most of the rest of the day, sitting in the hotel room, watching TV (which we haven’t had for the past 3 weeks) and a couple movies. The hurricane picked up intensity around 12:00 noon and stayed steady until about 3:00pm. After that, the rain subsided and the winds calmed down a bit, but still had gusts to about 40-50 knots. Around 6:30, Brent, myself and Tim Pitts from the US Virgin Islands (who got a sweet deal for us at the hotel) went into downtown Halifax to go to dinner. It was overcast and very breezy, but the city seemed to hold up fairly well. We got back to the hotel around 11:00pm and promptly passed out as we have to be at the club at 6:45 tomorrow morning.

Bring the Boats Inside!

2009-08-22T05:39:00.000-07:00

Brent and I arrived at the Yacht Club this morning around 7:45 to be present for an 8:00am meeting to make decisions regarding the hurricane protection program. The decision was made to bring all the boats inside following racing today. This option was by far the safest for the boats and the best option considering the insurance and liability questions surrounding the other option.

Race Committee decided to have today’s first gun at 12:00 noon instead of the regular 1:00 start time to try to get 3 races off since we would be losing racing on Sunday. Also, the 1 race for the blue fleet sailed yesterday was thrown out due to a protest for running it in the dense fog or something (I don’t know the exact details of the protest) so they had to send that fleet out first to get their race made up. Shortly after sending the blue fleet out, the fog rolled back in. The RC postponed the start of the blue fleet and kept all the boats close together inside the cove as to not lose anyone. The other two fleets (yellow and red) were on shore awaiting the signal to head out. The RC finally made the decision to lead the blue fleet through the fog all the way to the western shore of the bay where there was a clearing. The blue fleet finally started their make up race around 2:15pm. The two other fleets followed support and coach boats through the fog and arrived at the course just as the blue fleet was finishing their race.

The wind was up and down today, with lows around 8 knots and maxing out with 23 to 24 knot gusts. The chop was substantial as we could see the effects of Hurricane Bill coming our way. Following the make up race for the blue fleet, each fleet was able to sail two more races finishing around 6:15pm. All the boats made their way through the fog (that was still very dense on the eastern shore of the bay) and back to the club. When arriving at the club, one of the volunteers was on the loud speaker repeating instructions to all the sailor as to what to do with their boats. This proved very helpful in organizing the storage of all the Lasers.

While we were out on the water, Brent and some club volunteers had been starting to clear out the club houses and started storing boats. 25 boats (16 belonging to LP and 9 belonging to West Coast Sailing) had already been stored by the time the first laser got to the ramp. There were 4 main storage facilities for the lasers; the upstairs and downstairs of the Race Committee house, and the upstairs and downstairs of the main clubhouse. Most of the boats were stored on their sides, however just over 50 boats were stored on their transoms (much like we store them at the factory) in the upstairs of the main clubhouse. This allowed us to fit over 80 boats in that upstairs facility alone. We had estimated that this entire process would take approximately 6 hours, however, with the help of the volunteers and all the sailors we finished the storage in about 2 ½ hours finishing around 9:30.

It really was quite amazing how smoothly and quickly the process went, but I guess that’s what happens when everyone works together. . It was a great effort by everyone involved and having all the boats inside puts me at ease with the hurricane bearing down on us. Brent and I made our way back to the cabin to pack small bags and then drove toward Halifax to the hotel we will be staying at for tonight and tomorrow night. Brent opted for dinner at Wendy’s and watching TV at the hotel while I went into Halifax for dinner with two of the sailors from the US Virgin Islands who helped us through the whole storage process.

Bill is Coming....Ready or Not

2009-08-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

Today was the second day of racing. The Race Committee has decided to start the fleets an hour earlier today (12:00pm) because of the almost certain loss of Sunday racing due to the threatening of Hurricane Bill. We had a meeting this morning with the RC and the Organizing Authority to discuss plans to put all the boats inside following racing on Saturday to protect against the hurricane. Brent stayed on land today to assist with the measuring of the clubhouse and RC house to make sure that all the boats would fit in.

On the water it was a very frustrating day with fog banks coming in and out all day. The yellow fleet finally started their first race of today at about 2:55pm after sitting in 2 postponements for about 3 hours. The winds were about 10-12 again but with bigger waves than yesterday. The fog stayed throughout the day, breaking here and there allowing for one start for each race. The yellow fleet and blue fleet were started for a second race but that was abandoned due to very thick fog.

When we got into land there was a meeting of the minds to again discuss plans for boat storage. 2 scenarios were discussed. The first scenario was to bring all the boats inside. This plan was by far the safest for the boats but is very complicated and requires a team effort from everyone at the event. The plan of putting all the boats inside also almost ensures no racing on Monday due to the sheer amount of time that it will take to unload the boats on Monday morning. The second scenario involves putting the boats in a sheltered field, face down and with nets over them and staked into the ground. This is by far the easiest option for putting the boats away and getting them ready to race on Monday. However, the lot that would be used is not insured and belongs to a gentleman that can not be reached at this time. We went over each plan and what we would need to execute each plan. We adjourned the meeting saying that we would meet tomorrow morning and make a decision as to which plan we would go with.

After the meeting Brent and I again did some preventative maintenance to the boats (with our cool new head lamps) and left the club around 11:00pm. As we had not eaten yet today, we had some leftover steak and salad for dinner and watched King Ralph (I had forgotten how absolutely funny that movie is). Tomorrow afternoon should be fairly interesting trying to store the Lasers and at the same time getting all the coach boats out of the water and securing everything else on the premises. I will make sure to take many pictures of the mess that will be tomorrow afternoon. Brent and I may also stay in a hotel near Halifax on Sunday night as the walls of our cabin are literally only 2x4s and plywood. We will let you all know how everything turns out on Monday when we check out the aftermath. Until then, say a little prayer for us, the Yacht Club, the events and the boats.

Missing Boats & Hurricane Bill?

2009-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Brent and I got up a little earlier than normal today to go to the trailer park, where our 16ft LaserPerformance inflatable motor boat is. We were planning on getting the motor boat and getting it in the water early. Amory Ross, a well known sailing photographer was headed up to take some specific pictures for our marketing use. Our plan was to get the boat in the water early so that Amory could use it to go out and take pictures of the practice race.

However, when we got to the trailer park, our boat, motor, and trailer were no where to be found. YUP!!! That’s right. LaserPerformance is so hot right now that people aren’t just stealing our banners; they are stealing inflatable motor boats just to get our logo and name. But in all seriousness, our inflatable was stolen out of the trailer park. So if anyone sees a 16ft white inflatable motor boat with orange LaserPerformance logos plastered all over both sides please alert the Nova Scotia police or make a citizen’s arrest or something, because we would love our boat back.

So this was a nice fun start to our Wednesday that we thought was going to be nice and easy. The police were called; they came down to the yacht club and took all the insurance and registration information for the boat as well as my deposition. The officer said that he would do his best but that boats are in high demand these days, I guess especially boats with LaserPerformance logos all over them.

The rest of the day WAS fairly easy going until later in the afternoon when we were approached by the regatta chairman and the event organizers to develop a contingency plan for the weekend, because it is just our luck, Hurricane Bill is headed right for Nova Scotia and could hit us dead one. We discussed plans of what to do with all 180 lasers and dollies and all the gear that goes with the boats. It looks like we are going to try to get as many boats inside the clubhouse as possible and the rest would be taken off their dollies and tied to the ground using steaks and strong line. We will be discussing and refining the plans in the next couple days, but it looks as if the hurricane will be hitting us on Sunday and through Monday morning.

After a trying and weird day, Brent and I were finally ready to leave the Yacht Club around 6:30. We made our way to the supermarket and picked up some hearty steaks and shell pasta for dinner. The steaks and pasta were a great filling dinner and tonight we enjoyed a double feature; Semi-Pro while we ate dinner (which as far as I could see is a new age Slap Shot but about basketball and with Will Farrell instead of Paul Newman) and then Harold and Kumar go to White Castle as we passed out on the couch. Tomorrow is the first day of racing in the World Championships. Our plan was to go out on the water to support the boats, which should still happen, we just don’t know what motor boat we will be using. It should be an interesting day. That is about it from the pre-worlds blogs, tomorrow we should have some exciting racing reports to blog about.

Measuring & Buffalo Snobbery

2009-08-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

So we expected today to be slower than yesterday, however, being the first day of measurement, I was kept very busy through the entire day. Sailors here are very particular with their boats and want everything exactly perfect, and who could blame them, this is the World Championships. We really have lucked out with the weather, today was beautiful again, sunny, about 85-88 degrees and winds from 10-17 knots. Brent and I had a laundry list of things to do before we left the site tonight.

We were invited to a lobster bake at one of the volunteer’s house tonight, but unfortunately, by the time we were done with out work at the Yacht Club it was about 9:00pm and too late to make it to the party. We decided to make it a quick dinner night and picked up some delicious Subway…I had the buffalo chicken sub which was surprisingly great, and I am sort of a buffalo snob. We took the subs back to the cabin and scarfed them down while watching Accepted, which I must say, is an absolutely hilarious movie. As we gave out about 5 boats today and did a lot of work keeping the sailors happy, I feel like tomorrow should most definitely be easier. Most people are not going out sailing or even coming to the site as they will be resting up for the first day of racing on Thursday.

Hot, Hot, Hot

2009-08-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

I would like to retract the statement from my last blog that yesterday was the hottest day of the summer, because today might be 7 to 10 degrees hotter than yesterday. Patrick worked on his boats for the morning as I worked on our 50 spar sets. Thank god we got sun screen this morning because I could almost hear my skin burning. Patrick took Brent and out to lunch as a thank you for letting him stay with us. Patrick finished working on his boats half way through the afternoon; so thankfully, I received his help finishing off our boats. By the time we were done with all the boats and some small repairs, it was just past 7:00 and the supermarket was closed.

Thankfully, when we had gone out for lunch I had stopped into the local Chinese food restaurant and picked up a delivery menu. We ordered dinner to the cabin around 8:10. The food didn’t arrive until about 9:00, but it hit the spot. Even though Brent and I had already seen it on this trip, Patrick had never seen Step Brothers, so that was again the movie of the night. I thought it was just as funny the second time, but I think it gets funnier for Brent every time he watches it. Tomorrow is the first day for regular boat allocation, so it should be a big day. We are expecting to hand out around 50 boats tomorrow, probably in the first 2 hours.

70 More Down & Happy Sailors

2009-08-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of regular charter boat allocation. We were expecting a fairly busy day today, and we definitely were not disappointed. When we arrived at the site around 8:00am, there were already about 7 sailors waiting for us at the containers to receive their boats. Within the first 2 hours we have given out upwards of 50 boats, keeping myself, Brent and Patrick very busy in the containers. Around 11:30 Brent left with the Yukon to take Patrick to the airport so he could head back out to the west coast. The day didn’t get any less busy. By the end of the day we had allocated 70 of the 80 boats left along with keeping every sailor happy with their equipment.

It was a beautiful day again on St. Margaret’s Bay, sunny and 85 degrees with winds getting up to about 14 knots. Brent and I finally left the site around 8:00pm. We were way too tired to go get dinner anywhere so we settled on leftover Chinese, always a good decision. Tonight’s movie was a great one, and one of my favorites, Boondock Saints. We expect a little slower day tomorrow as we only have about 10 more boats to hand out.

Three Boats Unloaded and Down 10 Pounds

2009-08-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

When Brent and I arrived to the site this morning at 8:30, there were 3 trucks waiting for us. The volunteer force, which again was amazing, arrived around 9:30 and we started to unload. Halfway through the first truck, just as we were getting the last West Coast Sailing boat off, Patrick from West Coast Sailing arrived via taxi from the airport. Patrick will be with us tonight and tomorrow night and will be getting his 9 boats ready for the Masters charters. Hopefully he will finish with his boats early, because we could use the extra hands helping to get our boats ready for Monday’s boat allocation. We stayed at the club working on the boat until about 7:00 tonight leaving about 50 more spar sets to be set up tomorrow. No run for me today, I think I lost about 10 pounds in the trucks and working outside as it was very hot, probably the hottest day of the summer. After leaving the club, Brent, Patrick and I made our way to the supermarket and picked up some steaks for dinner. We accompanied those with some mac n’ cheese along with some salad for dinner. Patrick had never seen Talladega Nights, so that was an easy choice for tonight’s movie.

Sunny Day at the Cabin

2009-08-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

Today we received most of the balance of the early charters. I think we have maybe 10 more early charters to go. It was a gorgeous day - sunny and the wind picked up to about 14 knots by early afternoon. It was a pretty lax day, making a couple of repairs and substitutions of parts. Again, I took a run back to the cabin from the club while Brent went to the supermarket to get us dinner. Tonight was rotisserie roast chicken and pasta salad, a pretty good meal if I do say so myself. Tonight’s movie was one of my favorites of all time and one that Canada would be proud of: Slap Shot. Tomorrow we have the last 50 boats coming in and 9 boats for West Coast Sailing to charter out for Masters.

Feeling Out of Shape

2009-08-13T12:51:00.000-07:00

Today we were expecting most of the balance of early charters to arrive. However, we only received about 20 more sailors leaving us with about 15 more early charters to give out. Today was a gorgeous day, with light wind in the morning and building through the afternoon maxing out at about 15 knots. Just as the other days, most of the sailors arriving today had been coming from the European Champs that had just ended.

We closed up shop around 5:30 and Brent drove home as I took a nice run back to the cabin, about 2.3 miles away…I definitely need to run more because I found out that I am a little out of shape. We made our way back to the boat park around 7pm to do a couple repairs and got back to the cabin around 8. Tonight’s dinner was a smorgasbord of leftovers (steak, hamburger helper and pizza, what a great mix). We decided to watch 2 movies tonight, Euro Trip, while we ate dinner, and then one of my favorites, Bad Santa… both movies were the unrated versions which made them that much better. Tomorrow we are expecting the rest of the early charters to arrive and then we will be receiving the last 50 boats in 3 trucks on Saturday.

Sun, Steaks & More Boats to Hand Out

2009-08-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

Oh my god, my stomach still hurts from laughing at Step Brothers. It has definitely got to be one of the 10 best movies I have ever seen. Brent claims it is the best movie ever made, but I don’t think I would go that far. Anyway, we gave out a few more charters today. It was sunny and good wind. A lot of sailors were arriving today from the European Champs and were ready to get on the charter boats and get on the water. I think we have given out about 59 of the charter boats so far.

Everyone seems to be happy with the quality of the boats themselves. The attention to detail given by the guys at the factory is definitely showing. After handing boats out all day, we made our way to the super market again, this time for some steaks and had a grilling party at the cabin. The steaks were awesome and we are about to pop in Captain Ron, definitely one of the best movies ever made. “If we get lost, we’ll just pull over some wheres and ask directions”……..classic.

Misty Rain Duldrums

2009-08-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

We were expecting most of the rest of the charters to arrive today, however, we again only saw about 20 or so sailors at our container. It was overcast and rainy again, but more of a mist rain than yesterday. All in all, it was a semi-boring day. Dinner tonight was left over pizza from the lunch for the volunteers, however, tonight’s movie is Step Brothers, which I have never seen but heard so much about. I am very excited to see it.

Rainy Day & Hamburger Helper

2009-08-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of early charter boat allocation. We were expecting 88 of the 90 early charters to check in with us today as that is what they had signed up for. However, we only handed out boats to about 20 sailors. It was over cast and rainy all day, heavy at times, and that might have been one of the reasons for the small amount of charters given out. Also, the Laser European Championships were just finishing, and I think many of the competitors were also sailing in that. By around 5:30 pm the boat park was a ghost town so Brent and I decided to pack up and go to the supermarket to get food, since we didn’t get there the night before. Tonight’s dinner was a very healthy portion of Hamburger Helper……..yummy.

Subway & Lost Trucks

2009-08-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

We had 2 more trucks arrive today. The first of the two was already on site and set up when Brent and I arrived in the morning. This truck was carrying 20 complete boats along with the 70 extra spar sets. It took us a little longer than normal to unload this first truck due to the spar sets and we finished with it just around 11:30am. The second truck still had not shown up yet so Brent went to get lunch for all the volunteers as we waited for the second truck to arrive. The truck finally arrived after being lost for about an hour and a half. We very quickly unloaded that truck and it was out of here by 2:00pm.

Brent and I spent the rest of the afternoon un-boxing the 70 spar sets, tying them onto the boats and labeling them. This took us well into the evening to finish, just before sunset. Our plan was to go to the supermarket to get some food for dinner, however, all the stores were closed as it was Sunday evening. We settled for a glorious dinner from Subway and brought it back to the cabin.

Views from Halifax

2009-08-09T05:55:00.000-07:00

View from our deck

View inside our "home"

Doing some local sightseeing

More Unloading & The Busker's Festival

2009-08-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

Today we had 2 more trucks to unload, well, one and a half. I guess one of the trucks showed up at the factory in Portsmouth with the wrong bar configuration and they could only fit 10 boats in it instead of 20. We were hoping that a third truck would show up that would be carrying 70 extra spar sets that went with the boats that were already delivered, but I guess that truck will be here tomorrow. Again, the volunteers here were amazing. We had the 2 trucks unloaded and on their way by about 12:30 and spent the rest of the day organizing the boats.

For dinner, Brent and I decided to check out downtown Halifax. In downtown there was the Busker’s Festival, which as far as we could see, was just a bunch of street vendors and street performers with a lot of Canadians watching and cheering. We had dinner at a small place called the Economy Shoe Factory. It was good, but by the time we were done eating we were ready for bed. So we headed back to the cabin around 8:30 and promptly fell asleep.

Unloading the Boats!

2009-08-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of unload. Brent and I arrived at the event site around 7:30am. We placed the two storage containers at the top of the boat storage area and started unloading the boats from the three trucks that had arrived the night before. The volunteers that were provided to us by the event were absolutely spectacular. With the help of the volunteers and the truckers, we had all 60 boats and parts unloaded by 12:00 noon. We ordered some pizzas and sodas for the volunteers, which they loved and probably gave them some incentive to come back tomorrow.

Brent and I made our way back to the cabin around 3:30pm when Brent promptly passed out in his bed. I could again hear his snoring through the open ceiling. I headed back to the club at about 4:30pm to meet with the head of security. The security company contracted out for this event is the same company that detailed the Paul McCarntney concert in April, the Kiss concert in July and the AC/DC concert last night, so needless to say, our boats will be well taken care of.

Touring the Area

2009-08-06T05:32:00.000-07:00

This morning Brent and I took a trip over the event site and met with the Duncan Enman, the event manager for the Laser World Championships. We took a tour of the site and discussed where the storage containers would be placed, where the boats would be stored and where the unload would happen tomorrow. After the visit with Duncan, Brent and I decided to do a little shopping. We hit the supermarket and then the hardware store. We grabbed a little lunch at Pizzatown CAN and then went back to the cabin to stock the fridges.

In the afternoon, Brent and I took a tour of the local area. We drove up the coast for about 15 to 20 minutes and arrived in a quaint little town called Peggy’s cove. This is very old, very small fishing village and looks like the origin of many works of art. There are a ton of rocks around the area left by ancient glaciers. After our excursion through the local area, we made our way back to the cabin and cooked up some steaks on the grill for dinner (much better than wings without sauce or blue cheese). Both of us chowed down our steaks and passed out just before 11:00pm.

The Trip North

2009-08-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

At 4:45am this morning, Brent and I hooked up the LaserPerformance inflatable motor boat to the Yukon and we were on our way to Canada. Brent was a little peeved at me because I was 15 minutes late, but come on, like I said, it was 4:45am; simma down now Brent.

After 7 hours of driving through Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, we arrived at the Canadian border. Getting through the border crossing was a breeze, well, the first time. While getting through border control, we realized we had missed the duty free shop which was on the US side. The very nice lady at the Canadian border told us to just make a U turn, tell the US customs that we missed the duty free, go to the shop and then come back through Canadian customs and she would let us through. This plan sounded easy enough. We got through US customs fairly easily, went to the duty free shop and then sat in line for another 45 minutes waiting at the Canadian border. When we finally got to the customs agent the nice lady from before was no longer there. Instead, a new agent was there who thought it would be fun to have the drug sniffing dog roam through the Yukon. Obviously nothing was found, however, the dog got a nice surprise when it took a good whiff of Brent’s sailing gear bag…….poor pooch.

We finally arrived in Glen Haven, Nova Scotia (approximately 35 km outside of Halifax) at 7:30pm EST which is 8:30pm here. The total trip took just under 15 hours. We went directly to the St. Margaret’s Sailing Club (the site of the Laser World Championships) to drop the inflatable off. We then continued to the cabin that we have rented for the entire month.

The cabin is about a 5 minute drive away from the event site. It is a 3 bedroom cabin with no ceiling on any of the bedrooms, which means I get to fall asleep to Brent’s snoring each night; it takes some getting used to, but I think it should be alright after the first couple of weeks. We brought up our own TV as there is none in the cabin, as well as our own DVD/VCR player as there is no cable or internet. The cabin also only has a mini fridge so we brought another one to stack on top of the existing one. I know the cabin sounds like it is really “roughing it” but the million dollar view makes up for it all.

Brent and I met with the owners of the cabin and then made our way to the local pizza joint, which lucky for us, was having Wednesday wing night. However, I guess up here in Canada the like to put the hot sauce for the wings on the side (weird) and have never heard of having blue cheese with wings (even weirder). After our wing adventure, we made our way back to the cabin, put Spaceballs in the DVD player and passed out.