_{(photos courtesy of Dennis "Da Woody" St. Onge & Chrisann Tortora)}

It’s once again o-dark-thirty. We always leave the Bay Area with strategic consideration on timing the drive through LA’s labarinth of freeways. We’re headed down through the length of some of the worlds toughest traffic. Strange things are yet to happen.

The Viper tows behind the truck like nothing's there. It’s easy to edge up over 70, all the time keeping a keen eye out for the Highway Patrol.

An uneventful morning drive to what we thought was a quick stop for gas. I tossed the keys to ‘M’ (short for Mahalynn) and they apparently fell into a black hole. We all hit the head, got some coffee and met back at the truck. No key. We spent the next hour retracing steps, crawling through places we never should have seen only to have ‘M’ unleash her overwhelming charms upon the Toyota Dealer located 45 miles a way. A quick plea and Chuck is on the road with a new key in hand. He shows up with an invoice for $9.95. Garett and I are dumbfounded. We tip him $80 and hit the road.

Huntington Lake, one of the most Southern lakes in the Sierra mountain range offers a unique blend of warm air, cold water and fresh breeze that runs down the length of a somewhat narrow lake. Capping out 7,000 feet Huntington certainly has to be one of the best lake sailing venues in the west.

This year was no exception. A record number of boats vie for the opportunity to race here. Historically, the US forest service carefully guards the number of sailboats that have access to the lake. This year was no exception. The High Sierra keelboat weekend broke attendance records with over 131 boats on what was supposed to be a 100-boat limit…oops. Fresno Yacht club flawlessly runs this event and has done so since the mid-50.

The normal cast of mixed PHRF boats showed along with the Ultimate 20’s always a mainstay at this event. This year the Vipers were awarded a one-design start (on the same line as the U20’s). I went out of my way to thanks the RC promising them 8-10 boats for next year’s event.

I can’t WAIT until... we have numbers like the East Coast and can pack 25 Vipers onto the lake for a West Coast Championship. Perhaps we’ll be rewarded one day by hosting a North Americans here, as the U20’s offered in 2008, a hugely fun event!