The Layday came early...

Today ended up being a "layday" with all races cancelled. With winds of sustained speeds of 25-30 knots racer were not arguing. An all competitors meeting was held at 10am in the event tent to announce what the race committee was going to do for the rest of the week. At previous Masters Worlds the forth day is generally a “layday” or rest day or day to plan a little vacation time with the significant other or friends. Cancelling today meant that the planned layday on Thursday would be eliminated for later in the week and now spent on the second day rather then the forth. Jeff Martin the Laser Class President ruled the meeting with his distinctive “I’m the King” style that makes him so effective at running these events. He’s a classic Brit in every way and no one runs a championship better in my opinion. So my day was free to go explore the south coast of England. My good friends and partners in crime.. LauraLee and Bill Symes adopted me as travel buddy along with Christie Usher. Christie’s husband Tracy is is the North American Laser class president and had to stay behind to go over details for the next Laser Master Worlds being held in San Francisco. So the four of us head for historic Portsmouth about 45 minutes away. From there we took a 45min car ferry to the Isle of Wight. We had an incredible lunch at the "Folly Inn" right on the water. Our general plan for the day was to visit the Royal Yacht Squadron in the famous yachting town of Cowes. Along the way we stopped and walk the entire ground of the Queen’s summer palace. It had totally amazing gardens throughout with historic buildings from the eighteenth century or older that stood lonely on this massive acreage.The miles of walking almost felt good on the tried and sore leg from only one day of sailing. The town of Cowes was a sailors haven where every brand of English sailing gear had it’s retail store. All kinds of cool stuff to see. And what a spot for sailors partying in the streets during it's legendary Cowes Race Week held every August. As it turns out, the RYS closed 10 minutes before we got there. The guy at the gate said we should of made arrangements in advance and in writing before just showing up. He did know of the laser worlds that was going on. Oh well.. we saw it. The Isle of Wight was like one giant countryside and a great place to visit. It reminded me a lot of Newport RI with everything revolving around sailing or boats. I could easily live there if not for the brutally cold winters. On the way home we stopped at a popular pub called The Olive Inn thats right outside the little town near the yacht club. It was no surprise that the place was filled with Laser Masters. Most of the Canadians and some Aussies were putting down the pints.. Fun day in all.. The forecast is for the same breeze to still be honking in the morning. It seemed to be subsiding to me compared to this afternoon. I’m looking forward to reeling off a few low numbers to move up in the standings. This time I’m going to charge the line with a little more vengeance. or even start to leeward with the boys.. Power out to the left..then tack and cross the fleet.. That's the Hummel strategy in a nutshell.