I spent the weekend in Maine doing some fresh water boating and a very odd thing
happened. Five years ago I took my beloved Trinka dinghy up to my brother's
lake house since it wouldn't fit on my davits. For the last 2 1/2 years its
been on a mooring 20 feet from his dock. Saturday morning I looked out from the
house and commented that it was bouncing a lot in the stiff breeze, and my
brother replied that its been out there for over 2 seasons and survived major
storms. About 30 minutes later my daughter came running up, yelling "the dinghy
is on the rocks!" Apparently, my brother had neglected to wire the shackle,
and the dink waited until for over two years until I came to visit to let go!

I didn't get the chance to sail the Trinka, but today I spent an hour with my
brother's RC Laser, a 1/4 scale radio control Laser. I worked up quite a sweat
with my thumbs! My 8 y/o daughter, who has expressed little interest in
actually driving, caught on immediately and was zipping back and forth, jibing
and tacking, and even playing the sail a bit.