Bits and pieces, for the record

Last week was a bit of a blur, so here's a rough record.

Tuesday, "Tadpole" had a double-length cello lesson as he worked hard to prepare for a music audition on Friday.

Wednesday, he drove to his Scout troop meeting. Originally we'd expected Carol Anne to be at the Butte, to catch up on sailing practice, but those plans didn't happen. So, Carol Anne and I went to Popejoy Hall at the University of New Mexico to see "Pirates of Penzance". The Gilbert & Sullivan musical was performed by the Carl Rosa company of the UK and had some interesting bits of stage business and innovation and was well done. A couple of the co-stars may have found Albuquerque's altitude a bit of a challenge, but the Frederic, Mabel, Pirate King, and Major General had plenty of voice throughout, and a couple of the other characters came up to full range in the second act.

Thursday, Tad had a string bass lesson. Afterward, Tad and I went across town and bought (another) Sunfish sailing dinghy that came with a trailer.

Friday morning, Carol Anne caught a ride south to Elephant Butte with a fellow sailor. After school, Tad drove to his cello audition. Tad then got to tow a utility trailer south as we drove to Elephant Butte, where we picked up race committee gear and joined Carol Anne and "Penzance". Then we got to see the home that Dino had just closed on in Elephant Butte and eat sandwiches and help a bit with moving, though a couple of Dino's employees did most of the work. Sister Rosebia and her youngest son joined us, though we were surprised that Zorro didn't show up either for Friday sailing or to get to the Butte the night before the next day's racing.

Saturday was the day of the Rio Grande Sailing Club's Joshua Slocum regatta, in which each skipper single-handed his or her boat without benefit of crew. Four skippers and boats participated; Zorro on his Etchells (USA 38, "Constellation"), "Penzance" on Carol Anne's USA 125 ("Black Magic"), "Dumbledore" on the J24 "Kachina", and "Cheech" on the S2-34 "Cultural Infidel".

We started to tow the Etchells out, but just as we were tying on to Constellation the wind came up to about 5 knots (briefly even more) and the boats got a good sail out to the race course. Only one race was run in moderately light conditions; an "H" double-loop with the initial windward beat south to mark 8. Carol Anne and I ran the committee boat and the regatta from our MacGregor while a friend and crew member soloed Carol Anne's "Black Magic". Penzance had never helmed the Etchells in a race, and enjoyed the race in spite of finding his hands very full with a whole lot of sail controls that were hard to keep adjusted. Zorro had a very large margin of victory, beating Dumbledore by about 24 minutes in a two-hour race. Tad spent the day helping Dino and Sister Rosebia set up their new vacation home.

After the race, Carol Anne and I joined the racers in putting away boats, then we all wound up at Dino's compound, which comprises a fairly new Palm Harbor double-wide home and the adjacent original rustic vacation cabin. The home as a large screened porch or deck, which has a view of the lake. Dino cooked up burgers along with beef ribs that we had brought and we had salad, chocolate cake, and plenty else to share among hungry sailors and house-movers.

By midnight, we were ready to turn in and rest for the next day, which would be given over to the Jack and Jill his-and-hers regatta.