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  Labor Day in the good ol' USA—Sailing news from the U.S. and beyond
 | | Farr 40s with their spinnakers hoisted, Rolex Farr 40 World Championship 2017. © Rolex/ Kurt Arrigo |
As sailors, I think our breed has a natural mistrust for the winter. Don't get me wrong, I love skiing and alpine pursuits as much as most sailors (read: quite a bit, but less than sailing, for sure), but there's just something downright perfect about being on the water with good friends on warm summer afternoon, a full kite hoisted and full of pressure, the boat's undercarriage skimming across flat, fast waters. Whatever spray is kicked up lands harmlessly on your t-shirt or shorts, to dry within minutes, leaving behind a salty, temporary tattoo of good times had afloat. Preparations are simple, the packing list a breeze, and-during June's seemingly endless days-the sunshine a constant commodity.
While its certainly not time to start singing dirges for summer, my calendar reads Labor Day weekend, an annual time for families and friends to gather, on back decks or aboard cruising boats, the coolers full of ice and libations and the grills hot and loaded with victuals.
 | | Setting the spinnakers during race three - Melges 32 Gold Cup - Day Three JOY / IM32CA |
By all counts, Labor Day weekend is a celebration of summer's carefree ways, the daylight hours still long and, even here in Seattle on the doorstep of the 48th parallel, the day is warm and a tempting breeze rustles through the cheery tree outside my office.
All signs, both manmade (the calendar) and natural (dwindling daylight and the first suggestions of colder nights, if we're being honest) are strongly suggesting that now is the time to get in as many last days of “civilized sailing” as possible. Sure, October airs tend to bring fast kite rides, but they also require far more Gore-Tex and Merino wool under layers (at least here in Seattle) than a fair-weather outing in early September.
 | | The standard "afternoon light shining through the fleet's spinnakers" shot that all SF Bay photographers are required to take in order to retain their credentials. Chuck Lantz |
While I might have to bundle up to enjoy a day of racing sailboats on Puget Sound in December or January, I count myself extremely lucky to even be able to go sailing during these months...even if I sometimes question my sanity for going distance racing when smarter people are loading alpine skis onto their roof racks.
Having grown up in New England, a place where the boats are plucked from the brine each winter, I learned to respect the calendar at an early age. Sure, it might be warm and nice in the mid-September, but it was only a matter of a few fleeting weeks until the one-piece suites, then the wetsuits (or worse, the drysuits), would start to find their way into my Laser-sailing gear bag.
 | | Express 37 spinnakers - 2014 Rolex Big Boat Series, San Francisco - Final Day Kurt Molnar |
Such is the seasonal march of life, and attempting to build a sand castle to thwart that rising tide is about as useful as trying to hoist a spinnaker when sailing to weather. Try as you might, it just ain't happening, but-with at least six weeks of great sailing weather left in in most swaths of North America (more, if you live in the Southeast, Florida, SoCal or the Gulf Coast)-there's no question that the smart move now is to attempt to binge sail as much as possible (trust me, it beats Netflix). After all, while human brains are fallible, amassing a great (metaphoric) wine cellar of fine sailing adventures and experiences has helped more than one sorry salt (myself included) survive a long, miserably cold Vermont winter (that, and a bit of homebrew, but that's a different story all told).
So while the smell of grills and the sounds of laughter, lawnmowers and good times might be on the breeze on this long Labor Day weekend, do yourself a solid favor and rack up some extra days of sailing before the geese start flying south and before the leaves quietly fall to the ground.
 | | Spinnakers - Audi IRC Australian Championship 2014 Andrea Francolini |
While I can't guarantee much, I can promise you that-if your brain is wired like mine-you'll be mighty glad that you made this investment, especially as temperatures start to seriously dip and talk of ski trips turns serious. And while knee-deep powder turns at a world-class ski resort like Whistler Blackcomb (or better, the British Columbian backcountry) are a near-religious experience, personally, I prefer singing my hymns while trimming a kite.
May the four winds blow you safely home,
David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor
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