yeeehaaaaaaaw!

Blueberry and Woody hanging out while we ate a garlic butter burger at Crumbs.

Today our guest poster is our AMFlite 14 Woody. Please be respectful, this is her first time.

Hello, Internet. You may remember me from a previous sliming, when I found myself covering in green goo and NOT enjoying the waves. Since then, I've mostly been sitting in a concrete box wondering if my memories are but a distant dream and I'm not really something else. I thought I was a sailboat, but ... I had doubts.

Today I was carried out of the box and plopped on this green stuff, then put on a wheely thing for awhile. I had a nice but somewhat confusing chat with this blue car that introduced herself as Blueberry. I don't know what that is, but she seemed friendly enough and bounced on her wheels when I asked her if she knew about lakes. She said she would take me there.

But time went on and we weren't going anywhere. Old Blue also stayed in the concrete box, which was sad, but finally FINALLY! I was picked up and put behind Blueberry. And then we were rolling. I had terrible flashbacks of rough bumps and endless fields and concrete, because trust me, I've been there.

Then about 20 minutes later, I thought I sensed ... lake! The wind was whooshing and I could've sworn I smelled the waves, but then we stopped and my owners walked away. I don't know what they were doing just sitting under the trees at a table, but I wanted to goooo!

And then they came back.

And we went through these blue gates ...

There were several Cats and Sunfish on a beach and there were waves bouncing everywhere, and Blueberry sang "We're heeeeeere!"

Blueberry is a little weird, I think, but I like her.

Anyway, it happened. I sailed!

Woody hoping the wind would calm down.

It was really windy and going all over the place, but gosh, I was just so happy to be out there that I went with it! The wind was all over the place and gusting over 25 sometimes, so I liked going sideways, but I remembered I was boat and it felt sooo good being a boat again!

The loud roaring boats kept zipping around me, but that was kind of fun, too, because I could hop over their wakes. They aren't my favorite friends, you know, but I need to remember to share. And I was so glad I wasn't sharing the concrete box with Old Blue at that moment. I was free!

But the wind was getting a little too playful and, honestly, it was acting like a total spaz. Plus, some dark clouds were coming in, so I decided to head back to the beach. But the wind was coming from the north, so I had to zigzag in.

By that time, all the Sunfish were put away, which was sad, I think. They seemed like a fun lot. Apparently they teach teenagers how to sail. I don't know what that is, but they were kicking up the beach while I sat and waited, hoping to go out again. But the wind kept gusting and the clouds got darker, so I eventually had to get out of the water and join Blueberry.

I asked her what she did while I was out on the water. Apparently she was giving smack to the Mercedes parked nearby.

Sailing with my bro

Yesterday was probably the last sailing day of the year (for get wet boats, anyway), and I took my older brother out for his "maiden voyage."

We got to the lake around 5 p.m., and the wind was definitely gusting. And the water was COLD! Although the air temperature nearly hit 70 and the sun was shining beautifully off the gold and red trees, the water did not seem to recover from a night in the 30s. There was plenty of swearing while pulling the club's Sunfish from the ramp to the beach.

Then there was more swearing as the sail and boat bucked and bobbed with the gusts during set up. I tried to turn the boat into the wind, but it would whip around as things would shift. It nearly took off on us at one point.

But we found an opening between gusts and took off for the open water.

And it was glorious.

Brother dear had never sail before. The wind was blowing perfectly to sail mostly on reaches, so we only needed to tack when to head up or down the eastern side of the lake. This was a good thing, because tacking with someone who has never sailed before can get complicated. Bro would go under the boom as I told him, but struggled with sheeting in (I've been there) and would forget to hop to the other side of the boat. He'd cling to dipped side of the boat and I'd have to tell him to hop to the other side. But we never capsized!

 It was just us and a jet skier pulling a buddy around and adding some fun chop. Hiked up with some good speed to echo the 'Whoohoos!' coming from the speed demons. Overall, it was a perfect sailing evening ...

... until you put your feet back in the water.

Looked up how much dry sailing socks cost. Ouch.