July 4th Club Report

From the Lances! 

 
WOW… what a Fabulous Fourth of July WEEKEND!  If you weren’t able to get to the CLUB  – YA REALLY MISSED IT THIS TIME!  Not your fault though, the Weather Man was SOoooo wrong about it all.  The morning was wet (and we needed the rain) but the afternoon and evening were Terrific!

The running of the BLOCKADE between the Brits and the American Ships was an absolute BLAST and I can’t use that term too loosely.  I have little round bruises ALL over my body just like I had been pelted with water balloons OR something!  Thanks to everyone that had a hand in doing THAT.  I did receive my first ‘soaking’ when I was innocently sighting-in my water gun while on the Laser Dock.  Phil came down & coerced B.J. Brady into using the water hose as her ‘gun.’  I glanced up and saw B.J. peeking around the corner of the dock and then she smiled and sweetly soaked me head to toe!

 The leader of the American pack, Commodore Jim Holliday,  said something like, “Oh and you can bring up the rear and be the decoy so they can all go after YOU. We rattled our heads up-&-down like little bobble-heads as though we understood what he was talking about.  NO!  We didn’t understand that meant that when we got out on the water that 3 out of 6 British ships, flying their red flags, would immediately pivot in place and aim themselves toward US as we watched our Commodore, in his Silver Gandolf ship, plow right through the midst of them Brits and make way for 5th & Boston. And was that second ship The Lagerlefs with their daughter or Mike & Celie making a “run for it” to get out of the frey? Couldn’t have been Dewey with his motley “Family Crew” because they were too busy pelting anyone and everyone that EVEN GOT NEAR THEM!

We first saw The Hagens’ UFDA, with their gorgeous BRITISH FLAG flying, take a starboard turn and bear down us at full speed. As we were trying to fend off the mass of biodegradable-water balloons – SOMEONE managed to send a rather large bullet (Sponge) through our rigging and it went into the hold!  BLAST…we were done for!  That didn’t deter the second barrage of water balloons coming at us. Here came Don Moore’s boat in for the kill!  Hey, we’re dead already!  Nah, they didn’t care!  Someone lobbed another salvo of deadly lead into our ship (Sponges of course) and we were sunk for sure then!

By this time the full melee had begun!  Everyone joined back into the middle of the water and it became a free-for-all. Americans turned on Americans and Brits went for Brits – nothing was sacred!

We were facing another formidable FOE….from our own side – here came Beber’s boat! Yikes!!

He had strategically placed two smaller weapons on the front of his boat (didn’t catch their names) but they both had good launching arms with those balloons. We decided that we had to do something more in our favor SO Stan brought out the SOAKER.   The soaker reached out a full 20 feet with about 2 gallons of water at each squirt.  The two kids on the front of the boat didn’t even have dry undies when Stan got through with them. Now, it was too late for us to sink them AND THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON OUR SIDE so we said it’s time to soak the adults too. Those were the ones laughing at how WET they kids had gotten! They were good sports because they were still laughing AFTER they got soaked. We took aim at Frank under his canopy but he zagged and we just missed him!

The English Boat had a TEAM of Youths on board his ship!  It was like he had an AUTOMATIC balloon launcher since these characters were NON-STOP with their pelting of water balloons…and we were the lucky receivers of all that youthful energy!  Once again Stan regained his balance and decided to give them a TASTE OF THE LAKE.  He managed to keep his footing & soaked the “shooters” then went after Ted who took a thorough soaking with a SMILE!

There were 14 of the Club’s Sail Boats out there at this time.  Only eleven of them had been scripted into the Service but water lobs at a whim so IF they went for an Observe & Sail THEY probably got more than they bargained for…. Hey, it was time to head back to the Club to get ready for the POTLUCK.  The menu was Pork Loin - cooked to perfection, Mashed Potatoes to literally *DIE FOR, Cole Slaw, Baked Beans, Watermelon AND Drinks. Plus there were extras that members had brought to share too!  What a GREAT group of people at the Club.

The Mark Gardners were primarily responsible for this WHOLE MESS and IT WAS FUN!

B.J. came to the Club with a camera and a low-battery signal.  Diana came with her digital camera but it didn’t have a card in it. SO if anyone has photos of the EVENT, please share and send them along to Ron Root so he will be able to put them into the website.

The Club bestowed a “Silver” Cup to the winning team’s Commodore for their having run the Blockade! and made mention that the AMERICANS MUST HAVE WON SINCE WE ARE ALL HERE!!!   HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY TO ALL!!!
 

 

*Ted English’s potato recipe calls for 10 lbs. potatoes, 1 lb. of Velveeta Cheese, 1 lb. butter!