5-10-2014 Racing

by Pam

It was a work day at WRBC but that didn't stop the Butterflys from sailing. The water was warm, the sun was shining and the wind was BLOWING. Frank and Maria had duty and I went out to play with the big boys ... Bruce, Burton, Doug, and Paul. The wind was probably blowing mid to upper 20s but by Sunday morning I felt like it had been closer to 40. It was a day of learning just what a sailor is made of.

The races went to Doug, Paul and Paul

I discovered I'm made of some lightweight girl stuff and a lot of old stuff and I left it all out on the race course. The highlight of my day, beyond staying upright, was actually being in front of Bruce and Burton at one point during the second race. Other than that, I was the tail-ender.

Doug was made of one good race, some old and rusty stuff and some hang in there and give 'em hell stuff.

Burton was made of one good race stuff where he was neck in neck with the lead and then two more races of hanging in there.

Bruce was made of some good stuff, some old stuff, and smart stuff, craftily opting to call it a day and join the work party after two races.

Frank and Maria were made of some devilish stuff, extending the race course for the second and third race to punish us for an extra 10 brutal minutes.

Paul, it turns out, was made of the right stuff. Sometimes an entire leg ahead of the back of the fleet (me) and looking like he'd had a refreshing day of sailing when all was said and done.

It really was an excellent day for getting out in the WIND and getting some experience with handling tough conditions. After the racing, I was heading back on a run in what I think was the biggest wind we had all day and I completely buried the bow up to the mast and was too slow to react with the tiller. To my surprise the wind and water did a super quick round up that spun me around and left me sitting head to wind wondering what the heck had just happened. That was a first for me … not the wondering what the heck happened but the what happens when you bury the bow and don't manage to steer out of it. Just like tipping, when all is said and done, it's not that bad a thing and a kind of cool experience.

During the racing, I tried my weight forward (Doug's advice), middle (sort of my default) and back (Frank's advice). No matter where I sat going upwind, it was an exhausting struggle. I learned that pinching doesn't work in waves and instead I have to let the main out. I tacked straight into irons enough times to learn to over tack in a breeze and keep the main out until the boat gets moving and then steer up and bring the main in.  Downwind was a wild ride.  I slid forward when going down a wave and backward as I began to run into the wave in front of me.  I tried the whole catching a wave thing of steering up to catch the wave and then quickly shift my weight and steering down to ride it.  When it worked, it was great and when it didn't, driving into the back of a wave was slow. All and all, lots of opportunities to try new things and learn what works and what doesn't. 

For our entertainment, at lunch, we got to watch the local dragon boat with a boat load of about 20 newbies, get swamped, with one instructor jumping ship, swimming to the docks and running to get their rescue boat. Meanwhile the other instructor just kept the folks paddling as they sank lower in the water until the boat disappeared beneath them as they slowly made their way to the ramp. Everyone was wearing life jackets, laughing, having a good time and ended up with a great story to tell.