Flying Scots

Johny boy...Da Pig...and EYC in the background.

From our Hotel...boats in the background...

Arrive in Ephraim, registration, measuring, and taking it all in!

Saturday Morning...John and I are up feeling good after a good nights rest and we are stoked to know that today is an easy day on the road. We say goodbye to Racine, WI and we continue our journey on the road with only 3 and a 1/2 hours to the Ephraim Yacht Club. It is refreshing to see a different part of our amazing country and we take note as we pass cherry groves, beautiful dairy farmland (right up to the lake's edge), and say a quick hello and goodbye to each lakeside village as we make our way up into the peninsula of Door County. Each little lakeside village has so much character with beautiful flowers everywhere soaking up the sun, promenades at the lake's edge peppered with locals and tourists admiring the ocean-like Lake Michigan, and quaint little Scandinavian inspired cottages that just exude warmth and happiness... With big grins and anticipation John decides to pump us up with some good music... and discovery was made... "Rocket Pig" has a new theme song..."Blues that Heal" by Johny Lee Hooker...Baby! Seeing that Rocket Pig is a blue boat...it was too perfect! We are happy to see that we are greeted as we arrive at the local High School to check in and register and go through the measurement process. This process takes us a couple of hours, but lots of catching up with sailing buds and admiring the "Pig" sidetracks us from a speedy getaway. Measurment for us meant that we were chosen to measure our main sail and had to a check in our standard safety equipment. ALL IS GOOD! WE PASS! During the registration process we discover that we get to keep our boat at the Yacht Club right across the street from our lake side lodge! WOO HOO...we can litterly walk out of our room (which has a view of the lake) across the street to the Club in less than 2 minutes! Nice work John! We spend the afternoon checking all of our rigging, set up the boat and genuinely admire our beautiful surroundings. Rocket Pig is in her berth for the week...wind is in the forecast....time to drink a beer and find some grub! Tomorrow the Woman's and Junior's championships begin and we look to doing some on the water tuning and get dialed in to the local conditions. Stay tuned...John is posting tonight!

P.S. We love and miss our Wives!

Travel Day 1

4:15...alarm goes off. One last snuggle with the wife and up and out of bed. Grab important personal items, bags, sunglasses on head, and out the door. Off to Charlotte to meet John. What an early morning ...arrrrr...but the NAC's are here and overall morale is up! We hit Charlotte at 6:30 from Rockingham, NC... a quick kiss goodbye to the wifey and dogs ( the boys), and John and I are off to Cheese Head Country! John and I continued to get to know each other deeper on personal and philosophical levels and miles continued to fly by as we hit Chicago 12 hours later.... which by the way we were glad to see Chicago go by an hour and a half later due to some not so fun road conditions, traffic and detours...but as always John and I remained optimistic...because Ephraim, WI was just around the corner...as in 5 more hours around the corner! With a long day under our belts, some good music, and banter... were arrived in our berths for the night in Racine, WI for a couple of well deserved cocktails, a quick dinner and off to bed at the Holiday Inn! Stay tuned for more. Arrival at the NAC's, Registration and Measuring tomorrow.

Battle at the Start of the 2008 MidWinters

Off to the NAC's...Cheese Country Bound!

Hey Gang, Packed and ready for the 17 and a half hour drive to Ephraim, WI in Door County. Team Rocket Pig sailed by John Kriedler (South Carolina) and his "Arch Nemesis" (NC) as crew, and are set to invade Cheese Country for the 2009 Flying Scot North American Champs. John has spent hours in relentless persuit of the perfect racing bottom...done....new sails...done...hotel across from the club...done....man John certainly knows how to throw down...my captain on "Slowpoke" is such a cheap bastard...Team Rocket Pig is prepared for the event!