LUFTGEKUEHLT

Story by Alfred Abken

I hope the Tech Session at Rock Chip Armor went well on April 29, and the Meet in Baywood on the 30th. The 29th was my sister’s birthday, and although she has come down here several times to go to San Simeon in the past for her birthday, this year she had surgery on the 25th, and was not up to the drive down here. So, before sunrise on the 29th, I was up and heading north to Mountain View. That is not what this is about though. Early in March, the folks at Luftgekühlt had announced that their 9th event would be in the San Francisco Bay Area, at Mare Island. In addition to their normal air-cooled event, Saturday, April 29th they scheduled to hold an air/water event on Sunday, April 30. As luck would have it, I was planning on being in the Bay Area for the 29th, so I got a ticket to attend the event on Sunday. Sunday, April 30 dawned overcast, with the occasional bit of mist thrown into the mix. I had a nice drive up to Vallejo. Although I had lived in San Francisco from 1973 through 2007, I had been to Vallejo, but never to Mare Island, where the event was held. It turned out to be a remarkable location for the event. It being a Sunday, I could not spend the amount of time there that I would have liked to, so I did a quick walk through. Cars were lined up waiting to get in when I arrived. There were cars along the docks, and in several of the buildings lining the docks. This was in the area where the Mare Island Ferry docks. It eventually cleared off, and although not overly warm, it was a very nice day, indeed. There were a LOT of Porsches there! And the venue was exceptional. All in all, well worth the drive.