MOTHBALL SEASON
The moral of the following story is that you should never shirk your work-related responsibilities to go out sailing. But before I get ahead of myself, let's go ahead with the story first. You see, I was asked by one Nick Judson if I'd like to participate in Nantucket Community Sailing's Annual Turkey Regatta on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I said I had to work. Nick didn't take no for an answer, but rather as a point at which to begin negotiations. Long story short, I'm horrible at negotiating, so I left work early and sailed.

And despite my curmudgeonly nature - somebody actually called me "Angry Andrew" a couple of days ago…seriously…where do you people hire your writers? - I have to admit that it was a good time. The sun was shining brightly and, although there was a little chill in the air, the afternoon was pretty much a picture-perfect day for sailing. All except for the whole order of finish thing. I knew I should have stayed at work.

I was sailing with Taylor Breed, and while I'm not a big fan of placing blame, it was entirely Taylor's fault that we didn't do better. And I can say that sincerely because of the fact that I know Taylor is firmly entrenched in his office in Washington, D.C., and hopefully retains a semblance of that lovable sense of humor he's so well known for. And, besides, neither of us had sailed a boat that small for at least a year. So it really wasn't our fault at all, now that I think about it.

Hey, Andrew, which way's the water? PHOTO BY JILL SANDOLE

But when I sat and thought about it, I wasn't so disappointed about doing so badly, because the Turkey Regatta is about so much more than just winning. And I'm not just saying that because we finished so horribly. The truth of the matter is that it's about people getting together and enjoying one last time around the old racecourse before the boats get put away for the season. The competition was pretty ferocious - Skip Willauer was actually seen scouting the course out ahead of time - but the camaraderie was even more evident.

And when it was all said and done, we schlepped our way back to Children's Beach and dragged the boats up out of the water and onto their trailers. From there, we wheeled them back to the Yacht Club parking lot, where they will await their final transportation to wherever it is that the Nantucket Community Sailing folks store them for the winter.

Storing boats for the winter isn't quite as easy as it might sound. It's not like you just take your sailboat and leave it out in the driveway for the winter. You've got to take all the lines off, take the mast off, take the boom off. You've basically got to strip it down and cover it up to keep it safe from the elements. And while some of those serious yachts you see out in the Boat Basin during the summer require considerably more attention to detail when it comes to winter storage, the basic principles are the same. You want to protect the boat as much as possible from the elements.

And you know what, kids? It's time to start thinking about storing your fishing equipment for the winter, too.

If you people had any idea how much work is involved in preserving these segues every year, I assure you that you'd have a whole new level of appreciation for yours truly.

Friends and neighbors, I speak from experience here when I tell you that leaving your fishing equipment and your boat uncovered in the driveway to endure a Nantucket winter is not a good idea. In my case, it was an oversight at first, then kind of a running joke, and finally ended up as a hugely regrettable error in judgment that required the purchase of several new reels. But that's a whole other conversation for the confessional booth, so we won't get into it here. Suffice it to say that I don't recommend leaving your stuff outdoors as a course of action.

Instead, you might want to think about putting it away somewhere covered. In my case, there's always my mother's garage, which I've found is a great storage facility with very affordable rates. I kid, Mom, I kid. Seriously. I wouldn't consider storing my fishing stuff in your garage. For one thing, there's not enough room with all the other stuff I'm storing in there, but what you don't know won't hurt you, right?

In all seriousness, while your garage isn't ideal, it does the trick. It'll keep your stuff dry and protected from the elements, but moisture is still an issue there. The best place is inside somewhere, like in your house. The only drawback there is that it takes up room and it typically doesn't do much for the interior decorators out there. A good alternative is to store it in a climate-controlled place, either a warehouse or one of your friendly tackle shops on-island. While those services don't come free, the peace of mind that you get as a result is worth the added cost. And what's more, you won't have to replace your stuff come next spring, which is yet another added bonus.

Now, with the winding down of the fishing season, some of you out there might be worried that yours truly will be putting this column in mothballs along with the fishing equipment. Well, kids, fear not. I'm a trooper and, as has been pointed out to me on more than one occasion, it's not like my column is all that dependent on fishing in the first place, so no worries about my not continuing on. I'm a better man than that.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a whole stack of sailing books to read through. If I've got anything to say about it, next year's Turkey Regatta will have a different order of finish. Bank on it.

Tight lines. I