WIND

First Race Pictures

This past weekend was my first sailboat race. Loads of fun and was exciting, periodically scary, mind-numbingly hot but never dull—even when there was no wind and it was more of a bobbing contest and less of a sailboat race.

Saturday: My Captain (Kristi) picked me up and we boogied down to the docks where I met the rest of the crew of the Cal Tipn (not sure if that’s spelled right!)—Carolyn, John and Eric. Carolyn and Eric have sailed with Kristi quite a bit, John a few times and me –NEVER.

Of course I was a little nervous. I was such a newbie. Hell, I still am. So much going on in my head…will we win… will I fall overboard…will it be crazy-fast.

Answers: No. No. No.

The first day was blistering hot and NO WIND to speak of. Kristi said that people tend to ask her how long a race is. Days like Sat make it impossible to tell. We left dock at 8am. Motored to the starting point. They shortened the race due to NO WIND. Motored again. Began race at 12:30. Since no one was going anywhere fast, everyone started dropping out at around 6. We dropped out and motored to the rendezvous and arrived around 6:30 (I think) with the other boats, where we all swam, ate and listened to the band.

And while the sailing/no wind part of the experience might sound dull—there was beer, food, good company and hey—we were on a sailboat. Still beats almost anything else I can think of.

Saturday Night: —Slept on deck, listened to the approaching thunder and prayed we didn’t get rained on.

Sunday: Thunderstorms rolling in so hey--we had wind. And with wind comes sailing. We put up the spinnaker and raced!! Loads of fun and I tried to fly the spinnaker. I say try because flying a spinnaker is an art. When people say it’s like flying a kite they are not kidding. Of course, that makes me want to learn it even more and I think something I’d like to work on and even excel in oneday,

What a great weekend. There is nothing that beats full sails and good company.

Monday: Back at the day job. Tired. Tanned. And the ground is still moving.