Rich sails for real!

Jon and Colby, two of the U.S. Navy officers stationed here...enjoying the windless sailing in the sunshine.

Joe practicing his capsizing for fun.

Rich's bosun and Joe's pico pass closely as father and son say hello.

Joe going out for a spin on the fjord

relaxing...as with this little wind, there was little to worry about!

Lily, trying to get the sailboats to move a little faster...there was exactly one knot of wind. I think her blowing actually helped! :o)

Rich with Stephen...Stephen is an instructor. Rich has been on bigger boats sailing, but not these little ones.

Everyone gathering to start the race (which was really long considering there was NO WIND!

Rich and Stephen sailing along the Hafrsfjord

Guess who had the best view? Yep, the cows.

Today was the NATO sports day. The different countries were all competing in different sports around the area. Rich has watched too many people get injured on this day in the last two years...playing basketball, track and field events, soccer....so he opted for the sailing race. He figured it was a way to preserve his health (since he is running in a marathon in a couple of weeks). He has sailed on yachts but not these little sailboats. He was on a bosun with Stephen, a long time instructor from the UK.
There was a teacher workday today at school, so the kids were off of school. Tim stayed the night at a friend's house in Sandnes. Joe, Lily, Kona and I decided to go out in the sun and see the activities for sailing, since it is close to our house. Joe took his shorty wetsuit to see if he could also sail and took out a pico. This was the first sunny day in almost a month of rain, so stood and watched for quite awhile. There was no wind, but it seemed like they were having a good time. Joe was capsizing and even turtled for fun. :o)