By Joanne Aspinall
Thanksgiving naturally brings to mind turkey, parades, family, and friends. And for AYC, there’s sailing. Perhaps not a traditional part of a Thanksgiving weekend, but TTL’s sixth race of the season was held on Sunday, November 27. The day was a little light on attendance and wind, but still, a beautiful way to close out the holiday weekend.
The C14.2 family hosted this year’s gathering, with Mike and Maryellen on the mark set boat and John, Tom, Bill, George, Richard, and Joanne in the kitchen making sure the turkey, I mean races, were timed correctly.
The Sunfish brought the colorful centerpiece and the most competitors to the table, with five boats competing in two – no, wait, they left room for dessert – three races for the day. The Juniors, Colin and Myles, fresh off their outstanding performances at last weekend’s Dinghy Days, refused to be relegated to the kid’s table and joined in for two races. The Lasers completed four tight races, with the four boats finishing within 47 seconds of each other in the last two. And no Thanksgiving table would be complete without the crazy single uncle; Joel, in his American 14.6, was the lone competitor in the Portsmouth fleet, completing three races around the lake.
While there were no marching bands or balloons, our parade of boats drew in a few spectators and our AYC version of Santa Claus. Commodore Bob Naylor gifted the crowd with a last-second, come-from-behind pass to end the beautifully sunny day at Tempe Town Lake!





