Amidst The Rubble

New Orleans Yacht Club opened its bar to the membership, the sailing community and the National Guard last night from 4-8 pm. In a club that sustained incredibly moderate damage in comparison to Southern and our friends elsewhere on the Gulf Coast and located 100 yards from the 17th Street Canal breach, nearly cold beer was sold and consumed.

Like so many boats still lying in waste and among the quiet of the once full trophy cases the thick smell of sailing talk and lies resumed in the generator powered bar. It's amazing how many boats received a first in class, first in fleet in the last Wednesday Night race five days pre-K... For a fact, I know it was The Reason Why and we were good and beery that night... now that should quell all that talk.

With the 8pm curfew looming and the need to drive through many miles of darkened destroyed streets, the Fish Boat Championship trophy was presented before the club. "Even though this city has been leveled by a hurricane, doesn't mean that we don't stop racing!"

The one major takeaway I can give you regarding the state of the sailing community in New Orleans is what was told to me by Riley Stognier... and I reasonably quote here:

"What we discovered from Katrina is that we were no where near to racing our J/35 hard enough. That boat survived that bitch, we'll never put a storm jib up again."