From Texas to Germany

We finally left Corpus Christi 10 days ago. This year was great - I sailed 32 days in a bit less than 2 months. Only 5 days were light wind freestyle days - usually in "pesky" wind, where others planed on and off on 8.5 m sails. Nina made progress on the Vulcan, and learned 4 new old school planing tricks - Clew First 360 and Clew First Push Tack, planing Sail-Body 360, and the Reverse Monkey Jibe. I made it through a planing backwind jibe without falling a few times, although it was not pretty. I also usually need quite a few wet tries before I get a dry one, but that's just me. I'll still count it. One time, I even waited with the stepping around a bit longer, so it almost looked like a Flip jibe. I won't claim that one, though, since all attempts to repeat it failed.

We left Texas two days earlier than planned. I had gotten messages from my brother and sister that my mother was in critical condition. We drove straight for 26 hours, booked into a hotel for a night when we both needed a break, and then drove another 8 hours to the airport in Newark, where I met up with my daughter. Natascha and I flew straight to Frankfurt, and then drove to the university hospital in Essen; Nina drove the van back to Cape Cod alone. Now, 7 days later, my mother's health is slowly improving. Natascha will return to NYC as planned early next week. I will stay in Germany for another week, but will return in time for our next windsurfing trip - Hatteras for the OBX-Wind Festival week. See you there!