Guy named Richard White at the Clearwater Community Sailing Center set us up for a sail last Friday. Originally we went out on an old H16 and enjoyed it for about 20 minutes until we had a bit of a challenge - lost the rig about 2 miles out due to a corroded ring-ding in the side-stay pin. It went down real quiet... Didn't even realize it was down until I looked up after the tack - hey that's strange... Fortunately, it occurred almost directly upwind of our launch point and we were able to hobble back with a "jury rigged" jib and were within about 200yds when they finally came out and got us.
However, things got a lot better when Richard realized his Tiger was not being used by Robbie Daniel's training camp guys, so offered it to us. 2 hours in an F18 in sunny 75° weather ain't too bad for the end of December. Only disappointing part is the wind was rather light. Only enough to occasionally barely lift a hull. Sailing the two boats back-to-back was like going from a '60s beetle to Porsche Carrera. Same maker, but what a contrast
Kudo's to the guys at CCSC. Nice operation and location. I may be doing regular business trips to the area and might consider the $350 annual membership which would mean unlimited boat usage. A few trips and the $/hr would be reasonably acceptable.