... Butch (l)  is rigging up his sister's W3951 while Butch's brother-in-law, Fred Hill, and Butch's wife, Janice, look on. Being the loving sister that she is, Ellen let Butch sail this boat which he's used to from past years, while Ellen will sail the Wayfarer that Butch was going to be borrowing from John.

Lori and her friend, Andy Douma, hasten the demise of a few more oysters. It was an early night for most of us. When Marc and I left around 8:30 PM, I was just hoping I wouldn't get lost finding our eagerly anticipated beds at Mike and Dotty's place after what had been a pretty long day for us. But the day was not to be completed so easily: About 200 yards after we left the Troff, Marc mumbled from the passenger seat: "I'm hungry." It turned out that Marc, after a minimal breakfast and no lunch, had only had oysters and not a full meal like the rest of us! My quick detour to the beloved Quarterdeck, got us there a mere five minutes before their 9 PM closing time (rural Florida is geezer country), but they very kindly whipped up a burger and fries for Marc who thus did not go to bed hungry.

And the night's excitement was still not over. Oh, we found our way to Mike and Dotty's without incident all right, had some coffee and chatted a while. Before going to bed, Marc and I were even sober enough to plan our wake-up calls so that we could meet Nick Seraphinoff for an 8 o'clock breakfast at the wonderful Mason Jar. With Mike and Dotty having to leave very early to pick up donuts, etc. for the breakfast being provided to Midwinters sailors by the host club, Marc and I decided that whoever woke up first would shower and then wake the other.

Sure enough, next thing I knew Marc was at the door to my room, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, telling me it was my turn for the shower. On auto-pilot, I staggered across the hall and into the shower. 15 minutes later, I emerged, a new man. I headed for the fridge and some orange juice, freshly squeezed from Gale Shoemaker oranges. Best o.j. I have ever had - just the thing to wash my daily pills down with, except that I nearly choked on the entire fine concoction when I happened to glance at the kitchen clock, which read 4:20 AM!!

"No. Look!" said Marc when I brought him the news. Pointing at the clock radio in his room, he said, "See, it's 7:30 AM." But then it began to dawn on him that he had started his shower at 7:30 AM and it was still 7:30 AM now. Later, Dotty would chuckle and tell us that this radio hasn't worked in years. But for now, we were just happy to flop back into bed and know that our main morning chore, the shower, had already been done.

There was however, more excitement to come. As I waited for Marc to get ready at the real 7:30, I turned on the weather channel which spoke of nothing but the horrible damage and even deaths caused by severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in Lake County during the night. "Isn't Lake County where we are?" I asked Marc. And sure enough we were right in the middle of the disaster zone that would make world-wide news. Luckily for us, we had gotten only severe rain which I could recall briefly waking up for before my premature shower. But other parts of the county had really gotten hit: Just down the road from the LESC, a building was destroyed across the street from the Oyster Troff, while the club itself and those sleeping in their tents got off lightly: just heavy rain and wind with only one boat that was in storage at the south end of the club having been damaged.