My new view, much much much better than the old view.
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| My old yard. |
Monday, August 16, 2010
New digs
July 10 I came into possession of a new (to me) trailer and then sweated buckets until my old one was sold. I think we now have the best site at Wildwood, we can even sail the boat up to it!
My new view, much much much better than the old view.
My new view, much much much better than the old view.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda
August 7 - Race Day at Wildwood
A miracle has happened - despite telling me, more than once, that the only way I would be skipper would be to own the boat, Gerry has let me have a go at the helm. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that the wind indicator is broken or that the handicap reverts back to the original with a new skipper. I don't care what the reason is I was itching to get my hands on the tiller. Winds appeared to be perfect - at least in my opinion - strong winds would have caused me to chicken out for sure.
Eight boats jockeying for a good start position caused a lot of congestion and it didn't make things any better when the winds completely and utterly died as soon as the starting horn went off. I don't know about the other boats but Blazing Matilda (Gerry and I), Sea Sprite (Steve & Anita) and 18 Carat (Christina) were all floundering and just about on top of each other. Word has it that 18 Carat actually made contact with Sea Sprite (was that a push back Anita?). Fortunately winds picked up and we were off to the first buoy. There were only 2 boats ahead of us when all of a sudden Airborne (George & Lorne) comes out of nowhere and passes us - and there they were - gone!
Winds were tricky - here for a few minutes, gone for more. Airborne caught all the right ones (finishing first time wise) and Sea Sprite & 18 Carat missed them (finishing..... well what can I say?). We were in the middle most of the way and I think I only screwed up once, being caught in irons (not moving) for a few seconds - and as Gerry says a few seconds can win or lose a race.
With the finish line slowly approaching I was hoping for more favourable gusts to push us further to the left side of the lake where the finish line was. If we didn't get over far enough we would have to tack - not a good thing. Well as luck would have it we were almost on top of the finish line when we had to make a quick tack, or at least attempted to but the wind shifted and we were in imminent danger of hitting the buoy which would mean we would have to go around and cross the line again - definitely not a good thing. The wind slackened off and we had little control over our destiny and were about to hit the buoy when fate stepped in, the horn blew, indicating the bow had crossed the line, and less than a second later we hit the buoy and I could breathe again.
Remember the comment "a few seconds can win or lose a race"? We came in 2nd (when you count the handicap, by about 10 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!). Needless to say, I'm a little disappointed that I'm not the first woman to win the cup (yet) but actually very surprised that I finished as well as we did. Guess I had a good teacher!
Photo of us and Donal (winner) neck and neck.
A miracle has happened - despite telling me, more than once, that the only way I would be skipper would be to own the boat, Gerry has let me have a go at the helm. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that the wind indicator is broken or that the handicap reverts back to the original with a new skipper. I don't care what the reason is I was itching to get my hands on the tiller. Winds appeared to be perfect - at least in my opinion - strong winds would have caused me to chicken out for sure.
Eight boats jockeying for a good start position caused a lot of congestion and it didn't make things any better when the winds completely and utterly died as soon as the starting horn went off. I don't know about the other boats but Blazing Matilda (Gerry and I), Sea Sprite (Steve & Anita) and 18 Carat (Christina) were all floundering and just about on top of each other. Word has it that 18 Carat actually made contact with Sea Sprite (was that a push back Anita?). Fortunately winds picked up and we were off to the first buoy. There were only 2 boats ahead of us when all of a sudden Airborne (George & Lorne) comes out of nowhere and passes us - and there they were - gone!
Winds were tricky - here for a few minutes, gone for more. Airborne caught all the right ones (finishing first time wise) and Sea Sprite & 18 Carat missed them (finishing..... well what can I say?). We were in the middle most of the way and I think I only screwed up once, being caught in irons (not moving) for a few seconds - and as Gerry says a few seconds can win or lose a race.
With the finish line slowly approaching I was hoping for more favourable gusts to push us further to the left side of the lake where the finish line was. If we didn't get over far enough we would have to tack - not a good thing. Well as luck would have it we were almost on top of the finish line when we had to make a quick tack, or at least attempted to but the wind shifted and we were in imminent danger of hitting the buoy which would mean we would have to go around and cross the line again - definitely not a good thing. The wind slackened off and we had little control over our destiny and were about to hit the buoy when fate stepped in, the horn blew, indicating the bow had crossed the line, and less than a second later we hit the buoy and I could breathe again.
Remember the comment "a few seconds can win or lose a race"? We came in 2nd (when you count the handicap, by about 10 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!). Needless to say, I'm a little disappointed that I'm not the first woman to win the cup (yet) but actually very surprised that I finished as well as we did. Guess I had a good teacher!Photo of us and Donal (winner) neck and neck.
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