Bringing Home the Glassware!

Yippee! Today we won best in show for owner built sail! Definitely puts a punctuation mark in our story line this Spring. In my mind, this marks the end of building and launching Alizée and the beginning of our voyage to Maine: the end of Spring and beginning of Summer. Not only does the award reflect well on us, it reflects well on the designer, Dudley Dix, who was present when the award was given. I am pleased to give something back to Dudley in return for a great design and much help along the way.

The whole affair was an excuse for a family gathering. John Eric and Sherine drove down from Boston to be with us (Cath, Spencer, and I), my brothers Charles and Jonathan, and niece and nephew, Olivia and Jackson. At one point we were all on Alizée drinking celebratory champaign along side a galette brought by the Boston crowd. If Shelby and David were here it would have been complete, but it was not to be. We will, however, see them soon in Maine, Neptune willing.

We were also runner up for the Interlux "I built it myself contest". This contest is oriented more towards boats than yachts: we were the only one actually in the water. The judges were flattering and particularly enamored with Spencer's four bar linkage system for raising the movie project from within the cabin table. This contest was won by Raven, a classic and flawless rowing dinghy. Still, the representatives told Alizée's story and encouraged everyone to come back and have a look; the boat from Colorado is becoming a minor legend. And come they did with endless questions. We all took turns workin' the crowd, which was great fun.

We had a distinguished guest for the afternoon when Dudley dropped by to chat. It's always interesting to listen to his stories and learn a bit more about his background and experiences.

It's been a big day and were all winding down and thinking about moving on tomorrow. If we have a little wind, we'll go out for a family sail and slip Alizée back at Seaport Marine.