All that for nothing?
2002-09-09

Well, I've been asked how we did on Saturdays race, so I suppose I should tell the story. We were running very short crew, just six of us, and one of those is in his 70's, so if figured to be a long day. We left the dock at 8:10. We were suppose to leave at 8:00 but Scary was late. I needed her so we waited and then dashed out the three miles to the starting line and anchored. This race the Navagators race is weird, you start with the sails down at anchor with everybody below. Our commitee boat was late so we anchored where we wanted. A bunch of other boats were late too including two notorious cheaters. Sailboat racing doesn't have referees, it is basicly a sport of honor. If you want to cheat, you can pretty easily and in this race, where all the boats sail different courses, it is even easier. These guys do. I'm not sure what satisfaction you can get by winning, and knowing it was because you cheated, but they they have to live with themselves, not me. Well the gun goes off and we start raising the anchor and sails. One of the cheater boats got there late and never went below. He anchored right on top of us so I had to swerve to miss him. Eventually he managed to hit the other cheater in a true act of poetic justice. The was absolutely no wind, but we managed to get moving. We saw a little breeze right and went for it. we were the only ones moving. We tacked back and fourth in that little vein of wind until out lead in out start was over a mile. One hour after the start, some boats still hadn't crossed the line yet. Ugly.. We rounded the first mark and headed down the bay. We could see wind further down but we ghosted along at less than three knots. We knew people who started further down the bay were making miles and were killing us. At least we had the current pushing us out. It was our only saving grace. We rounded the mark off the airport an hour later. It was only 4 miles, not good. We started towards Jamestown,but the breeze died, then headed for the east passage, but the wind was on the nose. We were screwed. We tacked all the way to the far east side and then headed towards Newport. On the nose again. UGH... The idea of this race is to sail the most miles you can in the alloted time and be at Wickford by between 3:00 and 3:30. Before that you are disqualified, between 3:30 and 4:00 there is a penalty and after 4:00 you are disqualified also. It makes for soem interesting planning. Reaching and Running are straight line courses so the miles add up. Going up wind and having to tack back and fourth takes more time and it seemed all we did all afternoon was go upwind. URGH!!! So at least the breeze filled in to a steady 10 knots as we headed for the Newport bridge. We made that mark around noon and decided to go one mark further. It turned out to be an interesting decision. Except for crossing tacks with the 12 meter Courageous, the trip to the mark was uneventful, the trip back was a little bit more hairy. We rounded the mark and were sailing dead down wind. Thats a pretty slow point of sail. There were lots of boats to thread through but we were making decent time. Then we saw a huge barge being pushed by a tug, coming up behind. We headed as far left as we could go and would have been fine except for the damn Bay Queen which we now noticed that was headed right at us from the opposite direction. I figured he'd change course, but he didn't. We couldn't go right because of the barge and we can't go left becaue of the tour boat, a nice sailboat sandwich. I put the helm left (he was a little smaller) and so did the Bay Queen. I head right and so does he. He seemes determined to hit us head on. I go left again and finally he doesn't follow. Both boats pass us to the right, with the Bay Queen literally just feet away. A few people took our picture. Some of our crew waived. I did not wave. The rest of the leg was uneventful and we were finally getting some miles on. One of ous sister ships tried to pass us on the down wind leg, but missed. They had the taller mast and bigger sails and should have been faster. Oops... We got to the top of Jamestown with a decision to make. We had 40 minutes left and still had 4 miles to the finish, could we squeeze in another three miles? We'd have to be fast, and it would be close. What the hell, we went for it. Our sister ship headed to Wickford instead. We got off on a reach and we were flying. We got to the mark in just 12 minutes and headed back. Time was running out. I had to waste more time when a fishing boat with nets out crossed our path. They have right of way. We went around them. I kept looking at my watch and the boat speed as we neared the finish. 3 minutes left, 2, finally one, beep.. We crossed at 3:29:48. Made it with 12 seconds to spare. I thanked the crew for a really good job and I meant it. They all worked very hard. I knew we didn't do well, but it didn't matter, we did our best. You can't change the wind speed or direction. You have to play the hand you are dealt. I'm use to this. Besides, we had a party to go to. We got the boat squared away and hit the Wickford YC. Steaks and chickes were already grilling and the keg was cold and tapped. I talked to a few old friends and we found a table and ate. Then I headed to the boat for jello shots and brownies for dessert. By the time I got back, they were already starting to read the results. I asked of they had called us yet and they said no. I got there in time for 5th. Out spot I figured, but no it was our sister ship Duck Soup. Well at least we beat them. 4th place, must be us right? Nope, somebody else. Third place and above get awards so now I started to get my hopes up. Had we finished third? No. Well I knew that Warpig who started with us had almost the same amount of miles and that we gave them time with our handicaps so the last shot was second. It wasn't us. I was kind of bummed. There must have been some kind of mess up that would need to be fixed. Either an error in our score sheet or the commitee boat didn't register us as a finisher... I told the crew I'd get it squared away after the party. First place.. somebody we are all familliar with... I get ready to clap for Vince.. 28.4 miles, High Maintaninece, Ron... Well you could have knocked me over with a feather. The crew started yelling and people were clapping. I was stunned. I've never been so surprised to win anything in my life. I went up to pick up the award glass (The big awards don't get given out until the fall) and it was like I was dazed. I got back to the table and thanked the crew several times. Then we had jello shots and listened to the spinnaker results which Vince won. He had been kidding about racing non-spin. I passed out the rest of the jello shots to anybody who wanted them and gave out the recipe to several people. Then we packed up and litterally sailed off into the sunset with light hearts and big smiles. The ride bact to EG seemed to take about 10 minutes. Back at the club I bought a round of drinks. We all toasted and then split up into the night. A sucessful day after all.

Previous - Next