Mr. Toad's Wild Ride or Governor's Cup 2014

Pride of Baltimore II

That's what one of the other crew members V said/yelled in my direction on Friday night/Saturday morning as we sat on the rail in the driving wind & rain sharing slimy gummy bears. Somehow she managed to get them out of the packaging & into our glove-covered hands--a little at a time & we rejoiced when we both got Pineapple--along with a mouthful of rainwater...  the grapes got a healthy dose of Chesapeake Bay water as they almost got swept away--but we caught them in time at least twice. But, we didn't have to worry about washing them off. 

Earlier in the day I'd listened to the weather report & heard that Baltimore was going to be spared the rain but if you were going to be in Southern Maryland like St. Mary's, it would be a different story...sigh. I grabbed my heavy foulies, my life jacket, 2 towels, & 3 changes of clothes & prepared myself for a few rain showers. I thought, well, CBOFs is calling for lighter winds so at least the rain will be manageable....HAH!

The Dove

The race start was 6PM & the Race Committee boat was Pride of Baltimore II. For those who don't know, the Governor's Cup is so named because it is the race from Maryland's new seat of government, Annapolis to the first one, St. Mary's. The Dove was race committee at the end. That is pretty cool. 

Anyway, back to the wild ride. It didn't start that way--we had better wind than expected but so far no rain--we had a decent start & were doing quite well--we decided that we'd have watch shifts of 4 hours on and then off, there were 7 of us--at 8:00 it was my turn to get some sleep--still no rain, & I wedged myself in the quarter berth & tried to sleep--we had a pretty good heel on but I was able to get pretty cozy. Until midnight when it was time to go back up--it had been raining, but not too badly, we were in a bit of a lull & so I thought that things would be pretty low-key. HAH!

The wind picked up, then the rain, then the sea state...ACK! I sat in my heavy foulies with my usual red hat on (Mt Gay Rum CRAB Regatta from 2009--now more pink than red), the hood from my jacket pulled low & tight & braced for the onslaught. The rain hit like little pellets of icicles & made it just about impossible to see much of anything let alone the long tow lights--thankfully not coming in our direction.  At first, I was thinking to myself, "I signed up for this?" I'm freezing, soaked to the bone, tired, & a little bit scared as I rarely have had to sail in these conditions--I just wanted the wind to let up a bit & I'd be fine. Then I thought, "find the zen in this--become one with the storm." Yeah, a little hippie-dippy, but I needed to flip my script 'cuz I was stuck there for the unforeseeable immediate future. I trusted the rest of the crew, knew the boat, & knew that this was a great opportunity to expand my sailing skills. Once I flipped my thinking pattern, I really began to enjoy the exhilarating experience.  I looked at the whitecaps glowing as they crested--bio-luminescent plankton really made the tops of the waves glow in an amazing way as well as the comb-jellies that got disturbed by the wake of the boat--kinda like the picture below but with more waves--it was incredibly cool.

Later, my skipper sat next to me, & yelled in my direction, practically nose-to-nose, "How's this for your first Gov Cup?"  "Intense!" was my response--he said that at times it was a lot like ocean racing--the sounds, the waves, the speed, the intensity. Cool.

One of the highlights for me was our spinnaker run. We could barely carry it because we were so on the beam but, we did for a while & I was trimming.  V was the grinder & thank goodness she was there because we really had to fight to keep it full--imagine, black kite, black sky, bulleting rain in your face--I needed swim goggles (no wonder the Volvo Ocean Racers wear face masks). Anyway, at first we rounded up pretty badly, but I let the sheet ease & we popped back up immediately--heart beating a little fast but under control. So many times as I felt the bow dip down, I gave a little ease & we were good. I heard later that most folk didn't put up their kites.  I feel that my ability to trim under these conditions was put to the test--what a way to see improvement--it is great to see how far I've come from when I began trimming the spinnaker so many years ago to now--of course there's still so much more to learn but I have a real sense of accomplishment from this experience. And after all was said & done, we won silver! Most Improved from the previous year. So happy to be part of the crew who helped win this recognition. I've been asked many times recently, would I do the race again? You betcha'!

Screwpile? Sweatpile!

Ok, so most sailors on the Chesapeake know that the summer doldrums hit about mid-July through August--there's usually just no wind!  And you'd think that a lot of us would say "fogettabout it!" & some of us actually do, but not me or Xing Fu or about 123 boats who converge on Solomons Island, MD for the Screwpile Regatta in mid-July.  But this one was a HOT one--(shout-out to one of my sailing friends--C, for the phrase "sweatpile") 'cause I for one sweated gallons--couldn't get enough Gatoraid in me. Anyhow, as per usual there was a lot of flukey wind--day one was pretty good, day two was pretty crappy, & day three was mixed (at least for the West circle).  Poor Xing Fu on the North circle really got screwed (heh).  His RC (Race Committee) just couldn't figure it out. And after making them bob even longer than we did, they sent them on a 1.1 nautical mile course only to abandon race just as his boat was to the weather mark.  And then for them, that was it!  

On the West circle, I have to give it to our RC--yeah, we bobbed for a couple hours first thing after we motored out to our circle, but they really worked hard to find us steady enough wind above 4 knots of wind.  And eventually, we were able to get a race off--not the 4 legs, but shortened to 2.  And then we bobbed again waiting for air.  Instead of just giving up, the RC talked to the South circle & found out that the breeze was filling in nicely--apparent wind to at least 8 knots & gusting higher--just a few more bobs & then we'd get a second race in. And we did--4 legs & a very exciting start--near collisions (not with our boat) & protests--always good for an adrenaline rush! Despite the heat & waiting, a good finish to three days of racing.

And I didn't even have a ride when I got down to Solomons!  Talk about taking a chance.  It had been a real struggle to find a ride for Screwpile--both Xing Fu & I tried to find one for me but to no avail.  A lot of skippers that I know told me to just go down there & that I might be able to catch something for Monday & Tuesday as a lot of folk can't take off those days (ah, being a 10 month employee has its advantages!).  I was fully prepared to find something to do on Sunday around the island while Xing Fu sailed (shore wife--so NOT what I wanted) but I got lucky.  Xing Fu's skipper walked a few slips down the dock on Sunday morning & said that he had extra crew could they use someone?  And there it was--I had a ride for all three days.  Now I was fully prepared to be rail meat or something like that but instead I was really needed for jib & spin trim (not just pole) on a Tartan 10 with only 4 crew--and as I've stated before, sometimes you mesh as a crew & sometimes you don't--this was a case of a very good fit for all of us.  Problem being, they are from Deltaville, Va.--a little far to travel for Wednesday night races & weekends.  But perhaps I'll go down for Southern Bay Race Week next year--looks like I have a ride already!  It was so nice to be back on the spinnaker trim--and to do a good job--we heard the pack coming up behind us (there's that tell-tale water-coming-off-the-bow noise that grows louder) on one of our downwind legs & I was able to move us ahead significantly--even better it was away from I boat that I used to race against on the West River! My skipper told me how pleased he was with my trim--especially on the kite--I really needed that confidence injection.


But one of the most important aspects of participating in Screwpile has naught to do with sailing.  It is the 3-day mini vaycay that Xing Fu & I have together doing what we love (even if it isn't on the same boat).  In an email I wrote to Xing Fu, " ...these trips we take together seem to be very good for injecting the appreciation for one another back into our relationship--something we've been struggling with because of all of our life adjustments recently."  So true.

Learning Curve

Tomorrow I'm taking a two-day sailing course with J-World.  While this is nothing hugely special in the sense that many sailors take courses--Captain's License, for example, or Blue Water sailing, it's kinda a big deal for me.  I talked about how I used to race with my grandfather in a cruising class when I was growing up--that much is certainly true but three years ago when I decided to do this "racing" thing for real, I never guessed what it would be all about; how involved & how much I really didn't know.  Looking back on it now it is somewhat embarrassing.  When I stepped onto that J/42 three years ago in April I was certainly nervous but I knew I was a sailor & had raced before--I figured it would be no big deal--HA!  I quickly learned that even though I'd been sailing all my life, this ain't your mother's sailing!  My ignorance just makes me cringe now.  In fact, when I wrote about racing on this blog--my lack of knowledge of terminology, etc., is glaringly apparent.  http://boyfriendplease-sailorgrl.blogspot.com/2009/04/sailracer-in-napolis.html I really don't want to link back to it--that's how embarrassed I am....Anyway, some of the guys on that J/42 suggested that I take courses at J-World on that first day I went out.  I think I may have asked them how they got into the racing.  (This was before I went to the crew listings party with Spin Sheet)  Their response was that they'd all taken these courses & had done regattas with J-World.  Interesting, I thought, but I sorta dismissed it--I'd seen adverts for the school as well as many others in the Annapolis & Baltimore area but just didn't think it would benefit me.  Funny how it's full circle now. Yeah, since my regular boat has a symmetrical spinnaker, I made sure to ask the folks at J-World to make sure they had that & the pole on board for me.  Back three years ago I couldn't tell you the difference between an asymmetrical or a symetric kite.  In fact, I probably didn't even refer to a spinnaker as a "kite", "chute", or anything else, let alone fly the damn thing.  Not that I'm great at it now, hence the course on spin trim. But I'm quite excited by the prospect of getting this experience on becoming better at spin trim & also learning about the asym which I've never flown before.  I am also hoping that I become more valuable to my boat.  You've come a long way, baby!  But as Xing Fu is quick to point out, & something I also know with regard to TKD, I may be a 2nd degree black belt, but there are 9 degrees total & I'm really just a beginner.  Perhaps this course over the weekend will make me an advanced beginner....