CHANNEL CATS
August 25">

CHANNEL CATS
August 25, 1998 Carqill-Gallagher Beach-Whatever.Standing on the rocky shore,I survey the scene.Hmmmm. A dead gull, a rotting carp. the remains of a campfire. Just a few jet skis. 3 or 4 lonqboards and a few geese on the water. That looks like Sean. way out in the channel way powered. I open the van. pull out the rat and a 6.0 single cam. Dennis stumbles ashore, tripping on the ever present rocks. "I'm nailing my water starts, Mike". That's good, man

Minutes later, after a couple of blown jibes, I'm past the point, picking up weeds and heading for the channel buoys. Two sailors emerge from the afternoon haze,and I notice the clouds are thinning.The sun is warm on my arms,the wind is building. I get in synch with Vinny, and quickly learn the channel's secret, We squeeze in to the breakwall, and the pounding chop flattens out. As I fly over the rippled surface, the words "rattle and hum" pop into my mind. The rattle of the board on the water, the almost imperceptible hum of the wind in the rig. You can sail a long way down the wall. down the channel. Vinny pulling away from me, jibes at the middle gap ,and so do I. We both end up wet, and as I fly the sail, the waves thunder onto the wall behind me. The spray is a surreal mist, Then we're off, the southwest wind forcing us away from the wall, into the chop and slop. No matter,we'll turn again at the grain elevator and head back into the flat water, into the channel. What a day for channel cats, what a great day.