The Winnie Log: Day 3: Measuring up

In which the boat measures in and I check out.

A long day at Lake Norman YC: the Flying Scot NACs begin with measurement each year. To be sure that this one-design class is a solid single design, there's a fairly vigorous measurement process. It starts with a random-draw component: If you draw a blue gumball, you have your spinnaker, mast and boat measured. Yellow gumball equals jib, boat-weight, and centerboard. Green means main and rudder. If the boat has finished in the top five in the past five years, all of the above.

Since she became ours AFTER last year's NACs, The Speckled Butterbean drew blue. Lake Norman YC, being a rather roomy hunk of lakefront, spread the measurement out over the expanse of acreage.  If you form a reversed C with your right hand, the registration and sail-measurement happens at your first index knuckle. Safety and rudder measurement is at the web of your thumb. Centerboard and weighing occurs at the base of your thumb-nail.  

Bringing bicycles might have been our smartest tactical decision of the event. It's a solid ten-minute walk from index knuckle to thumb-nail -- and a three-minute bicycle ride with the breeze in your face. 

It was a group effort to get the gang measured, but we are mostly done. One or two teams (Hello Morgans!) hadn't arrived by the end of the day Saturday, and some necessary pieces (a sail, a centerboard) were still en route for some. Rumor has it there was a field-trip to find oysters in the evening, but alas, I was felled early by migraine. 

---