In certain corners of this planet (of which mine is one), there's a whole generation that experienced sailing primarily through the Lightning. Our national class association takes part in the local boat show every year, and every time there are these old folks that come up to the stand to tell more or less the same story... "Oh it's a Lightning! They still sail these? Our family had one back in '64 or so... but it wasn't like this one, it was wooden and the mast was wooden, too, and it broke and we fixed it and it broke again and it was so much fun!"My family had a Lightning when I was a wee lad... I think it was a wooden hull...
I spent very little time in San Diego- when the Topeka came out of the yard in Connecticut, I took it around through the Panama Canal, and spent a few months at Point Loma before I got out. This was 1991. Nice place, but I was a homesick Long Island native who couldn't wait to get back east.