As Spring turns into Summer and the days are getting longer the opportunities to go sailing in the evening are increasing. Many Yacht Clubs run beer can races – some are more focused on the racing and some are more focused on the beer – which ever it is they are still a great excuse to go out sailing during the week!

If you’re a die hard sailor you can sail every night of the week if you’re prepared to visit a different marina each time. Open Sailing has been racing the Open 6.50 in California Yacht Clubs Sunset Series on Wednesday nights in Marina del Rey and an Open 5.70 in Seal Beach Yacht Clubs Pop Tops Regatta in Long Beach. If you’d like to join us then don’t hesitate to contact us – we’ll provide the racing, you provide the beer!

After a difficult start with a delay due to gale force wind, the Mini racers started early May the first leg of the Mini Pavois. The elements were tough for the racers and the boats: many had to return to port and / or retire with broken mast, rudders or electronics issues. Most of them have still finished the race. In the production class, 13 Pogo 2 finished out of 17 boats in the class.

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It’s been a busy month at Open Sailing with many races and the Oakland boat show. Fortunately, communicating with the French and Pogo Structures doesn’t overlap with our 12 hours working days.  With 9 hours difference, we call the French at 6am our time (it’s only 3pm in France), so plenty of time to talk to everyone there and get things organized.

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At the boat show in Oakland we came across the perfect little navigation light for small boats. With the Border Run looming we needed a quick an easy solution for the 3 Open 6.50s and here it was – the Red / Green Navi light. We bought two for each boat on the spot – one for the bow and one for the stern. Since they have a six light modes they can easily be used as a bow light (red & green), a stern light (white only), a port light (red only), a starboard light (green only). With one low profile magnetic base screwed on the bow and another attached to the traveler at the stern all we needed was six AAA batteries and we would have enough light for 3 nights at sea – not that any of us wanted to spend 3 nights at sea on the Open 6.50!

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