Okoumefest day 2 dawned bright and sunny and beautiful - somewhere. But not in Maryland

After a soggy drive across the Bay Bridge I arrived at Matapeake State Park. The camping area had a few tents.

And the old ferry station building was there by the boat unloading area

Walking down the Hill of Death, the trees opened onto the Chesapeake Bay with the 5-mile long Bay Bridge in the background.

A happy and moist crowd was on the beach.

After a bit, a loud peal of thunder signalled a shower. Everybody came back ashore to wait the storm out.

Once we were allowed back in the water the sailors spent a lot of time waiting for the wind to pick up. Note the limp sails and glassy water, as well as Mark's ducks. Seems that he shared some of his lunch with them, which resulted in them following the Pocketship for the rest of the day.

 Here's my WD12 rigged for kite sailing. The white bag is a parafoil kite with the line run through a stainless steel loop attached to the grab handle. The line in the back is the attachment for a drogue to stabilize the boat during kite launching operations and to act as an emergency brake once the kite is deployed. The cockpit aslo sports a Seals splash deck for times when a spray skirt would be too much. Rumor has it that CLC may soon be carrying them.

So while I was fruitlessly waiting on the water for enough breeze to launch the kite, the awards ceremonies started. I got back just in time to catch Dan Thaler receiving his prize for Best in Show. His winning  boat is the second from the bottom, built for his wife. Not sure if the girls were part of the prize.

So then the day was over and everyone was packing everything up. Walking down the hill, I saw what looked like some really weird bug coming at me. Turns out that it was the CLC boys walking the tent canopy up the hill.

Then they collapsed it for stowing, but not before a Laurel & Hardy moment. See the silver on the right side of the canopy above Mark (of duck-feeding fame)? It's an entire day's accumulation of cold rainwater. Guess what happened next.

Meantime, up in the parking lot,  Matt was packing the trailer.

Joey and the guys were bring up the boats by the trailerful

And at the end of the day there were some very sleepy boats

So another Okoumefest goes to the history books. The weather wasn't as cooperative as it could have been, but lots of folks got to try out lots of really fun boats. And even when we were stranded on shore, there were all the other builders and wannabe builders, faces that we only knew from the forum and friends from years past. Even when the weather is soggy, there's nothing like hanging out with a bunch of boat people.

Thanks John, Ed, all the Matts, Bill, Aaron, Blaine, Joey, Mark, Dave and anyone else from CLC who was there but I didn't notice (sorry if I missed anyone). Once again you did good.

Laszlo