Jack in Sailing Camp

Jack and his best friend Kanad have been in Sailing Camp this summer, at the Lake Calhoun Sailing Club. This is the second year they have done it together, and this time they are focusing on racing. The class is the 420 boat, a fast sloop that includes a spinnaker. They're having a great time... I had to get out there today on a kayak and get some photos - while embarrassing them in front of their friends, of course...

Water Skiing!

It was Chip's birthday on July 26 (he's 47!!), and what better way to spend it than teaching the kids to water ski. Jack learned last season, and this year Libby and Luke took to the lake with some new junior skis. Luke didn't get far, but he won the Greatest Effort award... he's a natural athlete! Libby had a huge smile on her face most of the time.

On the way back to the boat ramp, Jack taught Luke some new sailors' knots that he has been learning in sailing camp. This summer's camp is three weeks long, and they're focusing on racing. Meanwhile, CC is just happy to be included on any family outing!

Sailing on White Bear Lake!

OK, this was one of the coolest things I ever got to do... crewing an A-Scow (a 38-foot racing boat) on White Bear Lake, in heavy wind! I just happened to meet someone over a year ago who said his crew occasionally needed a substitute - someone who knows what they are doing. I don't but I didn't want to miss the opportunity. He called out of the blue today, and said be at the dock at 5:15. We raced twice in beautiful, heavy wind, with about 10 other boats. I was the jib-man, and helped with the spinnaker when we were running downwind... never worked so hard in my life. The captain was yelling at us the whole time. The gent who asked me along actually fell overboard at one point. What a blast - I highly recommend it. We got back to the dock just in time before a huge storm hit! You can learn more about A-Scows HERE.

4th of July Weekend

It's the 4th of July, and what better way to spend it than on the water? We got an early start on the weekend by spending time at the Jaszewski cabin on Briggs Lake!

Luke is a wild man on the boat... here he is doing a cannonball to soak his cousins. And he holds out his hands to describe the size of the bass he caught the day before...

Jack was up on skis again - he gets up the first time, every time now! He's even hot-dogging it with some one-handed action. Now if we could just get him to go in the water quicker... he's a bit of a chicken going in the first time in these cool lakes...

City Pages Features the Defense Alliance

The local entertainment rag "City Pages" did a story on the Defense Alliance and its membership this week. I referred the writer to the companies that are detailed in the story in order to showcase the diversity of those contributing to the defense effort... Other than the headline "Your Friendly War Profiteer," it is a fairly positive story! It comes out in hard copy at most bars tomorrow. I may need to lay low, since I am quoted as saying we are pretty low in the rankings for government contracts in part because this is a "pretty liberal state." Oops. You can read the full text HERE