I Can C Clearly Now
Chapter 4 of 4being the final installment where Nicim finds and trains her new crew for the Frostbite Regatta
Please go HERE for a cool primer on sailing terms.
RRRRING: �Ropes, sheets, knots�oh baby, oh baby�..� CLICK
RRRRING: �Hey hon, check out my equipment for ju�.� CLICK
RRRRING: �Hi, I�ve raced Hobies for the last ten years..� WHOA
Finally I found him. Male: experienced, flexible, willing to take orders!! He could have had two heads and the personality of a roach � his signature went on an iron-clad, no-cut, no-option, two-year crewing contract.
As you know, weather hangs up the phone when you request cooperation, so we built an ark and sent away for the extra boat parts my new crew, Ed, insisted I add. (Just what is the purpose of a second trap wire � we have shrouds, don�t we?)
Knowing a sucker when it sees one (and perhaps needing a good laugh) the weather stayed clear long enough for me to discover that jibe means duck (I woke up with a knot the size of a small country); and when a hull goes up or under, turn loose of everything and HANGONFORDEARLIFE. Ed learned too � how to be a proper teabag, how to grab the mainsheet from my hands really fast, and how to trap a shroud (he got extremely good at this).
The day of the race, the site looked like a blue-light special at K-Mart, with over 80 boats, most of them bigger than the Santa Maria. All were handled by very large, serious men who used to be race car drivers. After attending a �C� (lowest class of the lowest class) fleet seminar which emphasized such rules as �leeward transoms at inside overlaps clear astern shall tack or jibe at luffing� I did what any normal person would do; namely I moved to Idaho. No, I spent the day in a chase boat discussing relevant issues like porno movies and bodily functions. (Ok, I didn�t move to Idaho. And the chase boat thing was actually a different regatta altogether).
I am absolutely positive SOMEBODY put SOMETHING in those Friday night refreshments, because the next thing I remember is being on the boat, one minute to red flag, looking for an excuse to hand Ed the tiller. The start was not my best effort. I mistook the C-mark for the start pin which put us a little behind in the first race, and nobody checked the course posting. At one point we were trapped between a Prindle 18 bearing down and a Hobie 21 coming up behind, but with a vocal crew (screams of terror do seem to break the tension), decent wind, and long courses, we captured fourth place overall in our division. This achievement still left me eligible for help from chivalrous sailors, but I had the feeling I�d better invest in a set of beach wheels�.and soon.
PS: A year later I was invited by an extremely experienced captain to crew his classic Hobie16 in the 150 mile �Down the Bay� race. This race, for beach cats 21 feet and under, ran down the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore to Virginia Beach on Memorial Day weekend (and was eventually abandoned due to lack of funding).
Boats were classed by length and attracted over 100 participants, including world-class competitors. Starting at 8 am competitors sailed fifty miles to a specified stop point, where finish times were accumulated for score. Depending on conditions, non-stop sailing times were 14 hours or more a day. (yes, you carried food, drink, needed clothing, maps, compass, hull lights, and spare parts in a waterproof bag and yes, you had to pee by dropping your drawers and hanging your ass off the side of the boat).
On the third day, with a leaking hull, a driving rain, 30 knot winds and 10-12 foot seas, I blew out part of my right knee when the boat went over for the fourth time. Almost a dozen boats had to be rescued, many with downed masts and cracked hulls. We made it � and took third place in our division. This shot is moments after dragging the boat out of the water.
And that fall, when I got off the crutches and out of the leg brace � I skippered the Frostbite Regatta again. Never say never to a sailor.
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