Hansford has been a member of the Lake Arthur Yacht Club for many years, and even though he has sold his sailboat, he’s kept his membership current. The Yacht Club is a small group, and is pretty informal by many standards. They hold several events each year, and one is the annual Gumbo Regatta. Whoever shows up participates in the sailboat race(s) around the lake, and meanwhile there’s a contingent of folks back on land who start a huge pot of gumbo. After the races, the sailing crowd and family members hang around and eat and chat.
We arrived with Lea after the start of the races this year, on October 18. We had fun walking around to check out the boats, quietly chatting with those we met. The lake is so pretty and peaceful! The crowd arrived en masse after the races ended, and we had meanwhile volunteered to help with making the gumbo and the huge pot of potato salad. The food was great and the conversations were great. We are still amazed at how friendly everyone is! Shortly after eating, the owner of a big trawler invited us onto his boat for a cruise around the lake. By the time we threw off the ropes, nearly 30 people were on board, fortified with big ice chests full of beer, wine, and water.
We cruised up through the “narrows” on the lake, heading for the downtown harbor area. On route we met Sammy Trahan, who has sailed all over the world, and Paul Cassity, who has sailed for over thirty years. Paul has visited the Czech Republic and Peru, among other destinations; we had a lot to talk about. One of the funniest things on the trip was getting to the harbor area and seeing perhaps four or five boats all tied up together, including one party barge. The music was booming from a sound system set up on one of the boats, and beer was flowing freely. They were havin’ a good time!
Back at the yacht club we all sat around talking until well after dark. Paul Cassity spent quite a while showing us his photos from Prague and the Czech Republic and Poland. He had awesome photos of Peru, so we made arrangements to get together later in the week to see the Peru photos.