Almost there

I had originally planned to be in France today but am still here in Seattle, not that being in Seattle in July is a bad thing. My lawn is a beautiful tan color, the boysenberries are all ripe, the days are long and it is supposed to be in the 90s the coming week.
I will be heading back to France next Sunday for a final two weeks of training before the boat goes to La Rochelle. I have really enjoyed being home but also have some Mini withdrawal going on too. Two weeks ago I sailed Whidbey Island Race Week on Brad and Gordy Cole's Melges 32. This is the same boat I have sailed on 3 of the last 4 Whidbey's and it is always a good time. This year we had a pretty good regatta with some rough races on Wednesday being the only thing that kept us away from a trophy for the week. We sailed 12 races over 4 days as Monday was a bust with no wind and although I did hear some grumbling from some folks about being tired from sailing 4 races on Tuesday I hope the organizers stick with this plan since I think people come to a regatta to sail more than to punish their livers although some folks seem to do both with equal vigor. In our class we had a J125, a 1D35 and a Melges 30 as the top three. Again I want to thank the crew of Nemsis, the Melges 30, for making the trek from San Diego.
As I have been gone most of the spring sailing season in the NW, many folks wanted to hear about my adventures in France which was nice. Of a bigger surprise were the number of folks who expressed interest in helping me out with the program. This was not something I expected at all.
With that in mind, if anyone reading this has a sponsor idea or wants to help my campaign out please contact me. The costs of the campaign have been pretty close to my expectations but it is still a big chunk of change and the help would be hugely appreciated. With the prevalence of companies in Europe using sailboats as marketing tools, it is somewhat baffling that American companies do not want to do the same. The only restrictions are that is cannot be alcohol, tobacco or something off color. For individuals who are interested in helping me out, I have a PayPal account and am working to get this linked to this blog page.
As for what's coming up, I head back next week for two weeks of training and then the boat will come out of the water to get the foils and hull section painted flouro orange. I will come home for a couple of weeks while this is done and then back to La Rochelle by September 4 for the pre-race inspections and other obligations. The TransAt is scheduled to start on Sunday Sept. 13 so it is just over 7 weeks away which I know will fly by.
On that note, I need to get back to making my house look slightly less abandoned that it has in my absence.