Last night I had the pleasure of taking my 7 year old nephew Spencer out for his first sail.

What a great evening to introduce the next generation of Storcks to the joys sailing. Officially Reagan National was reporting S14-17 winds during the time we were out. To me it felt more like 12-15 but what do I know. In any case, the conditions were prime. Bobby Astrove joined us, and it was a good thing too, since that much breeze might have been a bit much for me to single hand the boat AND keep an eye on my nephew. We sailed down to the Woodrow Wilson  Bridge, screaming along at a pretty good clip, heeling well over at times which Spencer loved. He quickly learned the difference between the Main, Jib, & Spinnaker and what the Rudder is. He even got his very first “Stick Time” when he drove the boat as we headed down wind. At 48 lbs, he wasn’t much help in keeping the boat flat, but we got him hiking out with us in the puffs anyway. We finally put up the Spinnaker on his insistence because he wanted to go “really fast!” and sailed in some good puffs and got the boat going pretty well. Not sure if he was satisfied though. 🙂 I think I may have created another “Pat McGee big wind junky”. As we sailed back to the docks we were surrounded by a whole slew of Albacores and Lasers racing in the cove. I pointed out all the other boats and how to tell them apart. He liked the Lasers especially, they were cool. As we pulled up to the dock he did what kids have been known throughout history for: He stumped me with a question I could not answer. He asked “How come there are so few Lightnings out Uncle Jeff?” Good question was my lame response. Good question. Anyway, we put the boat to bed and went out for some McDonalds to cap off the evening. In spite of my later indigestion, I went home with his final words ringing in my ears: “Uncle Jeff, you are the best Uncle ever. When can I go sailing again?” Oh man, it doesn’t really get any better than that.