Recently, I had the opportunity to try something that has been on my “to do before I die” list for quite some time. I took a day of sailing lessons and raced a sail boat. (We did this at work for a team building exercise). I have wanted to learn to sail for a very long time for a few different reasons. To me, sailing is the ultimate symbol of relaxation and achievement. While some folks have dream of ruling the world or being mega super rock stars, I have a dream of sailing the world in a sporty little sail boat that is big enough for my husband and daughter and some amenities (like a potty and a kitchen). It would have a cute name like the “Queen Josie” or the “Lost Shaker of Salt”. I love Jimmy Buffet and deserted tropical beaches. The sound of the ocean and the smell of the sea air. There is something about the aesthetic of sailing that really gets me. So, when an opportunity presented itself I took it!
Each team had to place their folks in one of four positions. We had a driver that was responsible for steering the boat, a main sail trimmer (that is the big sail), a jib trimmer (that is the smaller sail in the front), and a strategist who is responsible for guiding the crew through the course and coordinating with the four other boats on our team so that we race as a team. Yes, as you can guess, I was elected the strategist. We spent the morning learning how to trim the sails which is a fancy way to describe pulling on the lines and sheets (there are no “ropes” on a sailboat I learned), remembering port vs starboard and doing such other boaty things such as ‘tacking’. Tacking is when you turn the bow of the boat through the wind. This usually caused the huge main sail to swing from one side to the other. At this point, the crew must ‘duck the boom’ which refers to the big arm the sail is attached to as it swings. Ducking is important so one does not get hit by the boom and knocked off the boat. If the wind is good, getting hit by the boom not only will knock one off the boat but could knock you out or even break an arm or other important bones in the process. Once we got warmed up and some what competent, we stopped for lunch and the strategists from all the boats had to meet and go over how we were going to win.
Interestingly enough, the way the race worked was we all had to race as a team. We would be given an order in which we had to cross the finish line. If we were not in order then we would have to round the mark and try again. If we crossed in order, they took our total time and then the delta of the time between the first boat and the last boat crossing the finish line. The delta is added to the time and that is the score. This was done to encourage team work as opposed to just one boat out racing ahead and leaving everyone in the dust. Our team of five boats did really well. We stayed together pretty well until almost to the end. At that point, our last boat was seriously lagging as they lost wind. The strategists called for a group tack and we all turned our boats in place to let the last boat catch up. This worked wonderfully and we were doing great until the third boat went to cross the line and the wind just stopped. Our last three boats just inched along and it took forever to cross and of course it blew out our delta. Even though we were all over lapping it still look way too long for us to cross. But, all things considered, we did come in second and we thought that was pretty damn good for a bunch of beginners.
At that point we had to wait for some new wind but it wasn’t long before it picked up. The race course guy had to reset the marks so we took our boats across the way to the new course and it was like flying! Several times we had our boat almost sideways with the huge sail tight in the wind and the water racing inches from our backs! The spray kicking up and the sun beating down. The wind keeping us cool. It was a thrilling sensation. The rough power of the wind and the glide of the boat on the water. We did much better on our second race. We won AND had one of the smallest deltas they had ever seen. 7 seconds! We regrouped and set up for our final race. We did well, but not well enough and ended up placing second again. The nice thing was….no one really cared. It was just such a pleasure to be out on those boats and flying through the water. When the last race was over, they announced ONE more race. We were to race back to the marina all at the same time (the other races had been each team one at a time).
If you could have felt what it was like! Fifteen 26 foot sailboats all in a large group screaming as fast as possible across the bay….most of the time we were all so close together I could have reached and touched another boat! I was sad that we were headed back and that the adventure would soon be over. But I was absolutely floating on air that I had taken this opportunity to fulfill a dream!
