I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving : To reach the port of heaven , we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it... but we must sail, and not drift , nor lie at anchor.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Racing the doldrums
Our first race in the Regatta was by far the most “ interesting “and challenging race I’ve ever been in.
We had Steve, a diehard ‘Stink-potter’ , and Amy , an experienced all women’s crew racer, on board , so I’d figured a little extra muscle and racing experience leave us in good shape . Little did I know ….
It started with the search for the committee boat and said search never ended !?!?!?
Would you believe it , we eventually found the orange start line mark and Amy , who’d done this Regatta before , assured us to look for a powerboat with an orange flag .
Oh well, we had the start mark , so if we could only look for boats with yellow ribbons , the sign of the Mothertub-class , we’d be in good shape . One skipper assured us we hadn’t started the race yet , another said we were on , and all of the sudden there was ‘Abaco Glow’ ,a high-profile race -boat, struggling to keep their spot on the startline and I was seriously squeezing them out of their position and so tight on them- what a thrill !!! Especially since I thought I hadn’t started yet and was ruining their all- year -anticipated effort for them, so I let them go and tacked. After the race , Steve admitted he wanted to scream, but when he saw me calm on the helm ,he didn’t want to be the first one to freak out , and we all had a good laugh over that moment .Well, as soon as ’AB’ passed us I saw the yellow ribbon on their backstay and made a 360’ around the mark and followed them .Not having found the committee boat , we’d never seen the course board either , but that turned out to be no problem, for “Quixotic” ,our mother tub ,wouldn’t point upwind at all and we soon fell way behind the rest of the fleet. Soon we popped the first beers and were just about to turn on the stereo when we got close to the first mark and into complete doldrums . Now let me ask you if any of you ever tried to sail a heavy boat as ours at 0.7 knots and then tried to tack her . Talking about some whiteknuckle sailing , concentrating on every little move she made , I was pretty stressed out , while the rest of the crew slowly but surely passed out on me .We eventually called our ’Iron Genny’ to the rescue and motored back home ,so we could make it to the award ceremony that evening . ’Abaco Glow’ did win first price that day and we regretted we ruined their effort to beat their last years time . Only a couple of races later the skipper of their boat Sean approached me to compliment me on my move that day .His words said a lot about the race that day : We were so jeaulous, for you were in the position we wanted to be in and we were quite impressed ,until you fell off and we realized she also didn’t know what was going on .
So imagine you in a race , you don’t know where the startline is , you don’t know when you start and you don’t know the course !?!? Unbelievable …..
P.S. Crossing the Finish line we found the Comitteboat to be a big sailboat ,duuuuh….
We had Steve, a diehard ‘Stink-potter’ , and Amy , an experienced all women’s crew racer, on board , so I’d figured a little extra muscle and racing experience leave us in good shape . Little did I know ….
It started with the search for the committee boat and said search never ended !?!?!?
Would you believe it , we eventually found the orange start line mark and Amy , who’d done this Regatta before , assured us to look for a powerboat with an orange flag .
Oh well, we had the start mark , so if we could only look for boats with yellow ribbons , the sign of the Mothertub-class , we’d be in good shape . One skipper assured us we hadn’t started the race yet , another said we were on , and all of the sudden there was ‘Abaco Glow’ ,a high-profile race -boat, struggling to keep their spot on the startline and I was seriously squeezing them out of their position and so tight on them- what a thrill !!! Especially since I thought I hadn’t started yet and was ruining their all- year -anticipated effort for them, so I let them go and tacked. After the race , Steve admitted he wanted to scream, but when he saw me calm on the helm ,he didn’t want to be the first one to freak out , and we all had a good laugh over that moment .Well, as soon as ’AB’ passed us I saw the yellow ribbon on their backstay and made a 360’ around the mark and followed them .Not having found the committee boat , we’d never seen the course board either , but that turned out to be no problem, for “Quixotic” ,our mother tub ,wouldn’t point upwind at all and we soon fell way behind the rest of the fleet. Soon we popped the first beers and were just about to turn on the stereo when we got close to the first mark and into complete doldrums . Now let me ask you if any of you ever tried to sail a heavy boat as ours at 0.7 knots and then tried to tack her . Talking about some whiteknuckle sailing , concentrating on every little move she made , I was pretty stressed out , while the rest of the crew slowly but surely passed out on me .We eventually called our ’Iron Genny’ to the rescue and motored back home ,so we could make it to the award ceremony that evening . ’Abaco Glow’ did win first price that day and we regretted we ruined their effort to beat their last years time . Only a couple of races later the skipper of their boat Sean approached me to compliment me on my move that day .His words said a lot about the race that day : We were so jeaulous, for you were in the position we wanted to be in and we were quite impressed ,until you fell off and we realized she also didn’t know what was going on .
So imagine you in a race , you don’t know where the startline is , you don’t know when you start and you don’t know the course !?!? Unbelievable …..
P.S. Crossing the Finish line we found the Comitteboat to be a big sailboat ,duuuuh….
I think the day of the Stranded Naked Party we started to limp a little bit , but we soldiered on for this was supposed to be the mother of all parties .
1200 Cheeseburgers ,300 Hot Dogs,150 Pounds of French Fries and 100 Gallons of Rum punch and Margaritas each , plus everything required to set up a beach party with games and music on an uninhabited island and return it to pristine condition afterwards - WOW!!!!
All this was organized and paid for by a guy named Bobb Henderson , an American Cargo jet pilot , who lives on the houseboat” Stranded Naked “and followed the whole Regatta all the way to Hopetown with it.
When we arrived by dinghy on Fiddle Cay , the party was already in high gear . There were a gazillion of boats rafted up in a big semicircle around the beach and the line for the cheeseburgers reached far into the water . I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more fun . We were all friends this day and even met Jess ,who’d spent the winter with her daughter and man in Boot Key Harbor .
Talking about Boot Key Harbor , I think I feel a “Stranded Naked Party” coming on….
Boy ,oh Boy , the crew of Quixotic is lost in PARTY CENTRAL , but it’s just way too much fun !!!!!
After spending 2 weeks either at sea or out in the islands ,we’ve finally made contact with civilization again . We’ve arrived at Green Turtle Cay 4 days before the infamous “Stranded Naked Party “ kicks off the annual Regatta Time in Abaco - uh-oh - BIG MISTAKE !!! We’d spent the first night outside the harbor for Quixotic needed a little help of the tide to get her heavy bottom in and following the dockmasters advice on recognizing him : Just look fo da most handsome mon in da whole Abacos, we met Kevin , the lead singer of the “ Gullyroosters” , Bahama’s # 1 Band. Green Turtle was still totally deserted , so we went to see them play at the ‘Bluffhouse “ and at the ‘Green Turtle Club” and we danced and danced and danced…….
After spending 2 weeks either at sea or out in the islands ,we’ve finally made contact with civilization again . We’ve arrived at Green Turtle Cay 4 days before the infamous “Stranded Naked Party “ kicks off the annual Regatta Time in Abaco - uh-oh - BIG MISTAKE !!! We’d spent the first night outside the harbor for Quixotic needed a little help of the tide to get her heavy bottom in and following the dockmasters advice on recognizing him : Just look fo da most handsome mon in da whole Abacos, we met Kevin , the lead singer of the “ Gullyroosters” , Bahama’s # 1 Band. Green Turtle was still totally deserted , so we went to see them play at the ‘Bluffhouse “ and at the ‘Green Turtle Club” and we danced and danced and danced…….
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