This Thursday I switched boats because Scott of La Dolce Vida was out of town. Something about not trusting his crew to race his boat for him made me go over to my other neighbor who also races. Scott and Penny graciously let me crew for them. The race was in light airs and we did not finish last, which means it was a good race.

There was couple of incidents after the race that made the evening abnormal. After the race we were congratulating each other on staying aboard and not finishing last, when the skipper turned the boat back toward the marina. I was standing on the port cockpit seat when the boom. Remember the boom? Well it did what all booms do when you swing into the wind. It swung. Hit me right up by my left eye. Everything would have been cool except I wear glasses. The boom pushed the edge of the lense into the distal part of my left eye leaving a small gash. I am taking aspirin and when I bleed, I bleed profusely. It looked a lot worse than it really was. The skipper got all upset and had to get her first aid kit. She was so happy she could use it. We stemmed the bleeding. While she was doing this, she handed the wheel over to an inexperienced crew member who was diligently watching the depth meter and continuing on the course she was given. The sun in her eyes did not allow her to see the coffer dam at the east end of Hayden Island. Just a hundred yard off the dam, Scott noticed we were heading for it. He ran back to the wheel and spun us around gunning the little diesel so we cleared the dam just fine.

Meanwhile, the injured sat with ice on the eye and a bandaid on the wound and did not have to put away the boat. Kind of nice. Then they even fed me after the race. As I say: "It just doesn't get any better than this."